MUSCAT, APRIL 30
The Oman Cricket Chairman’s XI edged the Indian Embassy in the penultimate ball of the final to bag the Friendship Cup 2022 at the Oman Cricket Academy grounds in Al Amerat on Friday night.
The tournament was organised by the Indian Embassy in the Sultanate of Oman to commemorate 75 years of Indian Independence celebration termed as ‘Azadi Ka Amrit Mahotsav’.
The two-day Friendship Cup 2022 tournament saw the teams from the embassies of India, the United Kingdom and the United States of America along with a Chairman’s XI side from the Oman Cricket compete for the honours.
Indian Ambassador Amit Narang handed over the winners’ trophy to the OC Chairman Pankaj Khimji in the concluding ceremony.
“I appreciated the enthusiasm shown by all the teams in the tournament. The Friendship Cup is a new initiative and we would love to keep the tournament going every year. The Indian Embassy will try to make it an annual event after the great response received from other embassies and brilliant support by the Oman Cricket’’, Narang said.
The teams also paid homage to Iqbal Ariwala who helped organise the event but passed away suddenly last week.
THRILLING FINAL
In the 15-over final, Indian Embassy posted a competitive 103 for 7 wickets after being sent into bat by the OC team.
Abhilash was the top-scorer with 31 runs (24b, 1x4, 3x6). Praveen scored 19 while Jayapal Dethe chipped in with 17 before being run out.
Alkesh Joshi took 2-21 for Oman Cricket in his three overs. Adeel Shafique, Hemal Mehta and Mazhar Khan took one wicket each.
In reply, OC Chairman’s XI lost the wicket of Adeel (2) early but Parvez al Balushi (31) and Amir Ali (22) consolidated their innings. Amit Narang sent back Amir Ali and Parvez was run out by Abhilash to swing the game towards India Embassy.
However, composed batting by Hemal Mehta (16 not out) and Mazhar Khan (17) saw them through with one ball to spare.
Narang, Shashi K and Sameer took one wicket each for the Indian Embassy.
In the earlier league round matches, OC remained unbeaten to enter the final.
On Day 2, the OC team beat USA Embassy by 26 runs.
The Indian Embassy beat the UK Embassy by 70 runs to qualify for the title-clash.
The tournament was opened on April 22 by the Indian Ambassador Amit Narang along with UK Ambassador Bill Murray, US Ambassador Leslie M Tsou and Oman Cricket Vice-Chairman Paul Robert Scheridan at the Oman Cricket Academy grounds.
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