Fletcher praises Moores and Suri; Akhtar delighted after 3 straight wins

Mohammad Abdullah, Staff Reporter

Bangla Tigers captain Andre Fletcher was full of adulation for his players Chirag Suri and Tom Moores after their victory over Pune Devils in their Abu Dhabi T10 match on Monday.

After restricting Devils to 115/3, Tigers chased down the target for the loss of just two wickets with seven balls to spare.

“Tom played brilliantly. He is an excellent batsman. And with the back-up of Suri, he is showing what he can do. I am happy with the win,” said Fletcher.

“Suri has got so much talent. He knows he got to choose the right balls to hit. He has so many different kinds of shots in his kitty.

“He has a lot of confidence and that is all what matters. If you believe, you can execute, then you can achieve it,” added Fletcher.

UAE vice-captain Suri scored a 15-ball 30 with the help of two fours and as many hits over the fence while Moores played a blitzkrieg cameo of 12-ball 38 to steer Tigers to victory. Moores smashed four sixes and one boundary.

The game between the Tigers and Devils also featured the many small match-ups and one of them was the duel between UAE captain Ahmed Raza and his deputy Suri.

Suri took 17 runs off a Raza’s over with the help of two boundaries and one six. However, after the match Suri showed a great deal of respect for his captain and described him as a great bowler.

“Raza is a great bowler and he showed it in the last couple of matches. Honestly, I tried to stick to my plans against him. As I knew, he was well aware of what I was going to do,” said Suri.

“I was lucky enough to get away with those shots which I usually don’t play. The idea was to put off his game plan. But he is a great player and eventually he managed to make a comeback,” said Suri of his national team captain.

“I have not practiced these shots. It is like, you look at the situation and decide instantly. It is not predictive, it is instinctive. The plan was to disturb the line and length of the bowlers and get them to bowl into your area,” apprised Suri.

Devil opener Tom Kohler-Cadmore, who smacked a whirlwind 48 off 25 deliveries, hitting three sixes and four boundaries, said they fell short of 15 runs.

“Secret of my consistent performance in the tournament is that I try to trust myself. If you trust yourself, the rest becomes easy.

“Pitch was good and the ball was coming on the bat nicely. It was easy to hit the boundaries but I think we fell short of 12-15 runs in the end,” said Kohler-Cadmore after the loss.

This is the second time in a row that Kohler-Cadmore’s innings went in vain as the bowlers failed to defend the target.

In their last match against Team Abu Dhabi, Kohler-Cadmore had scored 25-ball 61 but they lost that match too.

Meanwhile, Qalandars captain Sohail Akhtar was delighted and praised his team after they notched up three straight win in as many games with a victory against Deccan Gladiators on Sunday.

“I am feeling very happy as the team is playing extra ordinary cricket in all the departments of the game, be it bowling, batting or fielding,” said Sohail, who struck a quick-fire 31-ball 71 to help Qalandars post a fighting total of 118/3 in 10 overs.

“Tom Banton is an excellent batsman and he gave me a lot of confidence. My plan was to bat deep till the end of the innings and post a huge total,” he apprised.

“We are confident of making it to the final especially after winning three matches out of three. T10 is very fast and exciting. It is all about hitting sixes and fours,” said Sohail about the T10 format.