SRINAGAR: Kashmir Mavericks, one of the four Qatar based Kashmiri cricket teams that participated in the 2020’s Kashmir Resident In Qatar (KRIQ) cricket tourney has taken the trophy home. Qashmir Knights team is the runner-up.
KRIQ is one of the few tourneys that the Kashmiris working and living in Qatar have been organising on yearly basis. KRIQ started on January 24 and concluded in the first week of March.
Apart from the two teams that played for the final, the two other teams include The tourism saw the participation of four teams Zafron cricket club and Young Barbarshah. All four cricket teams are Qatar based. The venue of the mega event was the only International Cricket Ground in Qatar where hundreds of the Kashmir families came to cheer for their teams.
Kashmir Mavericks is led by Adil Bashir and Qashmir Knights by Dr Suhail Yaqoob. This is for the first time that the two Kashmiri teams got the opportunity to play on Qatar international ground.
A statement issued by the KRIQ gave details of the final match. “Kashmir Mavericks chose to field first. This decision proved to very successful right at the start when 3 wickets of Qashmir Knights fell one after the other in quick succession giving the fielding side a great advantage at the start Qashmir Knights had pinned all their hopes on their important batsman, Tariq Wali. Tariq did not disappoint them and scored a quick-fire 83 off 53 balls after being dropped in the field by one of the Kashmir Maverick fielders which gave Qashmir Knights a great lease of life. At one stage the batting team was 60 runs of the first 10 overs and had lost 4 wickets. The batting team regained some composure and were able to put up a decent score of 164 runs, averaging 10 runs per over ion the last 10 overs,” the statement said.
“The stage was set for the Kashmir Mavericks to finish the job in style given their long line up of exciting and talented batsmen. Mavericks started handsomely scoring almost 10 runs an over till their opening batsman Irfan Wani and Adil Bashir, Irfan Wani got run out freakishly. The Knights were able to put back the pressure and take two more quick wickets and put the Mavericks in a spot of bother. The two new batsmen played sensibly and kept the score ticking till they got their eyes in. Once set, the duo started to unleash majestic Stroke play hitting boundaries and sixes all over the park. A great cameo by the young and upcoming batsman Nasir scored a well-balanced 22 runs. The Star of the show for Mavericks was Talha who played one of the best innings of his career and scored the match saving 55 runs of 33 balls,” the statement said.
It added: “The Knights were not going down without a good fight and were able to push the match right to the wire and that added to the already enthralling competition. 10 runs were required of the last over and Mavericks had their big hitter on the crease who hit a lovely six to win the match.”
