By Murali Dasan

YANBU — YACA-Air Arabia Cup T20 Tournament – 2017, sponsored by Air Arabia in association with Yanbu Al-Sinaiyah Cricket Association (YACA), started with a bang here.

The matches are played in two divisions. Division-I has only one group, while there are two groups in Division-II. Eighteen teams are competing for honors in this tournament.

Rising Star defeated Shaheen Cricket Club by 16 runs. Rising Star, electing to bat, scored 157-9. K. Shoaib top scorered with an elegant 74 off 51 balls with 2 fours and 3 sixes. W. Waseem of Shaheen took 2 for 37 in 4 overs.

Shaheen CC, in reply, began losing wickets at regular intervals and was 5 down when the score was 65. But a brisk 39 in 17 balls with 1 four and 4 sixes by A. Adnan took the score close to the target but Rising Star bowlers held their nerves to restrict Shaheen CC to 141-7 and win the match by 16 runs. A. Sarfraz took 4-17 and was declared the Man of the Match.

Indo Riders beat Pak Crescent B by 5 wickets. Pak Crescent B elected to bat first and tallied 128 as Wasim Javed scored 52 in 34 balls with 2 fours and 5 sixes. N. Naveed of Indo Riders took 3-32. Chasing a moderate total, Indo Riders reached 133-5 in 17 overs. Sarjeel Butt was the highest scorer with an unbeaten 48 in 42 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes. He was supported by N. Naveed who hit 29 in 27 balls with 3 fours and 2 sixes. Shahid took 2-26. N. Naveed of Indo Riders was declared the Man of the Match for his all-round performance.

Pak Crescent A thumped Mangalore Challengers by 107 runs. Opting to bat first, Pak Crescent A posted 213-3 with Nadeem Javed scoring an unbeaten 82 with 6 fours and 5 sixes. Opener Shoaib contributed 66 off 47 balls with 5 fours and 5 sixes. S. Irfan took 2-33.

In reply, Nadeem Javed of Pak Crescent A bowled economically and took 4-12 to bowl out Mangalore Challengers for 106 in 16 overs. H. Hashid scored 16. Pal Crescent A won the match by 107 runs. Nadeem Javed of Pak Crescent A team was adjudged the Man of the Match.

Bin Fahad made short work of Shah XI by 7 wickets. Shah XI elected to bat and managed 108-9 as S. Sajjad top scored with 32 with 2 sixes. M. Mustafa hit 24. Nasir (2-19), Z. Zahoor (2-17) and A. Aftab (2-20) were the wicket takers. Bin Fahad easily chased the required runs in 14.4 overs, losing only 3 wickets. Y. Mohammad top scored with 53 in 46 balls with 5 sixes. Sami took all the three wickets, giving away 28 runs. Y. Mohammad of Bin Fahad was named the Man of the Match.

SIDC Cricket Club defeated Young Fighters by 10 runs. Opting to bat first SIDC posted 98-7. D. Dastagir scored 20 and S. Harron 13. Saifullah, Waqas, Muneeb and Faisal took one wicket each and there were 3 run-outs.

Chasing a small target Young Fighters were bundled out for 88 in 18.4 overs. Only Waqas (19) and Saifullah (12) could manage to make double-digit scores. H. Mohammad (3-17) and K. Shahid (3 wickets) were the wicket-takers. H. Mohammad was declared the Man of the Match.