Gulf International RPL champs after last-ball win over Omega

Gulf International’s Asif Hayat scored a single off the last ball of the match to give Gulf International a thrilling win over Omega Insurance Brokers in the final of the Rashid Alleem Premier League 2020 (RPL) tournament played at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Friday.

In reply to Omega’s 168/8 in their allotted 20 overs, Gulf International scored 169/5 in reply, thus scampering home to a memorable last-ball triumph to claim the winners’ trophy.

Hayat, who scored a pacey 30 off 19 deliveries, with the help of 2 fours and 1 six -- besides accounting for one wicket in his economical spell of 4 overs during which he conceded only 26 runs -- was one of the heroes for the newly-crowned RPL champions. However, it was the bowling performance of team-mate Aamir Raja, who claimed 3 Omega wickets at the top of the order — while giving away just 27 runs in his 4-over spell — that fetched the Gulf International right-arm fast bowler the man-of-the-match award. The prize wicket of Omega skipper Shane Alam, whose innings of 59 off 41 balls – with the help of 9 hits to the fence -- was claimed by Adnan Obaidullah.

Earlier, choosing to bat first after winning the toss, Omega openers Sam Rajan and Imran Ali put on 34 runs for the first wicket before Rajan fell to Raja for 24 off 17 balls (5x4) in the first ball of the 5th over. Raja then went on to break the back of the Omega team with the wickets of Ali in the 5th ball of the same over and that of Janarthanan in the over’s last delivery. Thereafter, other than a sparkling half century from captain Alam, and Abhishek Tiwari’s 27 off 19 balls (2x4, 1x6), there was not much of a contribution from the other batsmen and Omega reached 168/8 in 20 overs.

In reply, Gulf openers Mujahid Sohnay Khan (55 off 44, 6x4, 1x6) and Babar Ismaeel’s quick-fire 39 off 19 in a 71-run stand, gave their team a great push for victory. Tharaka Dananjaya (26) and Asif Hayat were the other notable contributors with the bat for the champions.