Sharjah: Pacific Ventures emerged as the first champions of the Ten Premier League (10PL) gully cricket tournament held at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Friday night. In the final they defeated Team Petromann by six wickets and received the winners’ trophy and Dh115,000 cash prize from former Indian opener Virender Sehwag.
The tournament saw the finest tennis ball cricket specialist from India, Pakistan and GCC countries displaying their skills. In the final, Team Petromman that batted first were restricted to 59 for six in the allotted ten overs and Pacific Venture won the match in 7.3 overs.
This richest gully cricket tournament was held under the auspices of the Sharjah Cricket Council with a total prize money of Dh250,000, Runners up Team Petromman received Dh60,000. Hundreds of spectators cheered for the finalists and Sehwag, who is the brand ambassador for the tournament. The tournament was organised by Petromann and sponsored by Danube, Domino & Sveston watches, Lama Tours, Pocari Sweat, Pacific Ventures, Radio 4 89.1FM, Tools Marcom and Delhi Darbar with Cricon as the event consultants.
Shreyas Indulkar of Petromann bagged the player of the tournament award while Krishna Satpute of Pacific Ventures won the best batsman award. These two players, known in tennis ball cricket circles as gifted stars, enthralled the spectators with their breathtaking strokes.
Petromann could have posted a bigger total had Shreyas not been run out by Pacific’s Bilal Shaikh. Shreyas had cracked run-a-ball 23 runs while Jignesh Patil who, won the man of the final award, took two wickets.
Chasing the total, Pacific Ventures lost their opener Ejaz Qureshi for a duck. Satpute, who hit three boundaries from eight balls, could score only 14 runs but Yogesh Penkar scored an unbeaten 16 and steered the team to the target.
Pacific Ventures had reached the final by registering a seven-wicket win over Eastern Blues from Saudi Arabia in the semi-final. The hero of the match was Pacific’s Jignesh, who took four wickets for just eight runs from his two overs. Pacific reached the target in 7.5 over through Penkar’s unbeaten 41 runs.
Petromann eased past Al Falah Club from Saudi Arabia by 48 runs in the semi-final. Backed by M Yogesh’s 40 runs, Petromann posted 93 for nine. Chasing the target, Al Falah could muster only 45 runs.
Brief scores:
Final: Pacific Ventures bt Team Petromann by six wickets. Team Petromann 59 for 6 in 10 overs (Shreyas Indulkar 23, Jignesh Patil 2 for 10) Pacific Ventures 60 for 4 in 7.3 overs (Yogesh Penkar 16n.o, Krishna Satpute 14)
Individual awards: Man of the final: Jignesh Patel, best batsman: Krishna Satpute, best bowler — Rohan Sawant, best allrounder — M. Sajid.
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