Jumeirah beat NAS in final to lift League of Mammoth crown

Gulf Today, Staff Reporter

Jumeirah Mammoths staged a remarkable comeback to beat Nad Al Sheba (NAS) Mammoths by 16 runs in the final of the 17th edition of the League of Mammoths (LOM) at the Dubai 7s ground on Saturday.

After posting a fighting total of 161 in their allotted 25 overs, Jumeirah restricted Nad Al Sheba to 145/7.

After winning the toss, Jumeirah decided to bat first. The decision almost backfired when captain Shiva Pagarani along with six other batsmen were back in the pavilion with the just 75 runs on the scoreboard.

NAS’ Sanjay Pathak wreaked a havoc as he triggered the collapse to send four of the Jumeirah’s top five batsmen back into the dugout, which completely pushed them on the back foot.

Jumeirah failed to get off to a decent start and kept on losing the wickets at regular interval. Their batsmen failed to put up a fight against a disciplined bowling of NAS bowlers, who were on fire.

Everyone had almost written Jumeirah off, but Sharan Pinto and CTK Mashood had different plans as they refused to give up without a fight.

Both the batsmen knuckled down to mend the faltering inning. They played sensibly without taking much risk and shared a decent partnership to rekindle their hopes.
Mashood was dismissed for 17 but he had done his job.

After the departure of Mashood, Pinto and Prashant Shetty took the onus of taking the score to fighting total on their shoulders.

Shetty scored a blitzkrieg 20-ball 41 and Pinto added a watchful 37 to give the bowlers enough runs on the board to defend. NAS bowling spearhead Pathak finished with an impressive figures of four for 16 while Rajesh Thadani and Ben Thakkar took two wickets each.

Chasing, NAS got off to a disastrous start as they lost quite a few wickets early on in the innings.

Sunil Selvaraj scored a gritty half-century and stood firm on one end.

A resolute Selvaraj played a defiant knock of 62 to wage the battle single-handedly.

He got support from Tanish Suri as the duo took NAS close to the target. But, a skillful bowling by Pinto, Lucky Abbas and Ravish Malik did the trick for Jumeirah. Abbas picked 2-23 as Malik took 2-26 while Pinto finished with 1-32 as Jumeirah denied NAS a a victory in the final.

Six teams participated in this edition of which four were Mammoth teams – Jumeirah, Shindagha, Nad Al Sheba and Zabeel. The two guest teams were Banke and Dubai Exiles.

The double round robin tournament has grown in popularity over the years and is played mainly among veterans on Fridays under daylight in white clothing and with the traditional red ball.