Al Turki, Muscat thrash Enhance; cakewalk for Renaissance

Times News Service

MUSCAT: Enhance CT lost in both 50-over and T20 formats as NMC Al Turki Enterprises and Muscat CT walked away with fighting victories in Premier Division encounters over the weekend in Amerat.

Al Turki inflicted a 64-run defeat on Enhance in the longer version of the game on Friday while Muscat thrashed it by 6 wickets in the shorter version on Thursday night.

Enhance had Al Turki in trouble at 31 for 3 and made it much worse when the later slumped to 92 for 7 in the 28th over. Al Turki, however, made a dramatic recovery, fighting its way back to what proved to be a defendable total of 200 before losing it last wicket in the final over.

Batting at number 8, Yogesh Patel struck a superb 53 off 77 balls while Gulam Shaikh remained unbeaten at brilliant 46 off 66. Omani star Sufyan Mahmood was very impressive with the ball, taking 3 for 25 in his 10-over spell while upcoming all-rounder Obaidullah took 2 for 37.

Failing to capitalise on the opportunity to chase down a modest total, Enhance batted poorly, slumping to 64 for 8 in the 21st over before being dismissed for 136 twenty overs later.

Brief scores(Premier

Division): NMC Al Turki Enterprises 200 all out in 49.5 overs (Yogesh Patel 53 – 5x4, 2x6, Gulam Shaikh 46 not out – 3x4, 1x6. Sufyan Mahmood 3-25, Obaidullah 2-37) beat Enhance CT 136 all out in 41 overs (Obaidullah 43 – 7x4, Noorul Riaz 20 – 4x4. Jay Odedara 3-30, Viren Patel 2-12, Ajay Lalcheta 2-26) by 64 runs.

Muscat win

Earlier, Muscat made the most of Enhance’s poor batting form romping home to a 6-wicket victory in a T20 Premier League clash under lights at Oman Cricket’s grassy ground one on Thursday night.

Opting to bat first, Enhance was bundled out for a paltry 113 in 20 overs. Captain Khawar Ali and young Wasim Ali were the only notable scorers with 39 and 25 runs respectively.

Talented all-rounder Ayaan Khan led the bowling honours, taking 3 for 23 while Baadal Singh and Rajesh Kumar Ranpura bagged two wickets each.

Brief scores

(T20 Premier League): Enhance 113 all out in 20 overs (Khawar Ali 39 – 4x4, 1x6, Wasim Ali 25 – 1x4, 1x6. Ayaan Khan 3-23, Baadal Singh 2-13, RajeshkumarRanpura 2-13) lost to Muscat CT 118 for 4 in 18.3 overs (Jatinder Singh 67 not out – 7x4, 2x6, Ayaan Khan 23 not out – 2x4. Flourry Mathunny George 2-15) by 6 wickets.

Win for Renaissance

Sparkling centuries by Siddiq Afsar (129 not out off 99) and Faizal Jerome (117 off 88) were the highlight of Renaissance CT’s massive 320-run win over Glory Bower Strikers in a one-sided A Division game at Oman Cricket’s grassy ground two on Friday.

Strikers made a big mistake putting Renaissance in after winning the toss as the latter piled up a huge 409 for 6 in 50 overs thanks to magnificent batting by the two centurions who were involved in an entertaining 124-run partnership for the second wicket.

Waruna Sajith (59) and Rishabh Verma (52) were the other notable contributors with the bat.