Aztec beat Amazon to win U-14 Phantom League title

In a closely fought final of the boys U-14 Phantom League cricket tournament, Aztec emerged winners over Amazon by a narrow two-run margin at the Sevens ground in Dubai.

The four team double round robin league was sponsored by MGM Trading and was conducted by the Dubai Cricket Council.

Aztec batted first but Ayman Ahmed faced only two balls before walking back to the pavilion. In came Player of the Tournament Aditya Shetty but he could score only five runs before being run out and that triggered a collapse. Only Man of the Match Vihan Tripathi who was later also declared the best batsman of the tournament stood tall.

With wickets tumbling at regular intervals at the other end Vihan kept the scoreboard ticking by gathering runs at a quick pace. His 46 came from only 36 balls and had a six and five fours in it.

That knock and minor contributions from Daksh Singhvi (13), Ruth Mukherjee (11) and Kurt D’Souza (10) at the fag end helped Aztec to 113 for 9 in 25 overs.

It should have been a walk in the park for Amazon but their batsmen didn’t pace their innings well and fell short by 2 runs.

Tanish Suri got his 38 runs from 53 balls and Ammar Badami who bowled well earlier to get three wickets scored 33 from 48 balls but the other batsmen failed to get into double figures.

The tournament was held for boys based in Dubai and they were selected on drafting basis which took place under the supervision of the DCC.

Usman Zahid took two wickets and was well supported by Ruth Mukherjee, Shreyas Phatak, Aditya Shetty and Kurt D’Souza who all bagged a wicket each.