Umair Ali, Mustafa star in One Stop’s 37-run win

dubai — A swashbuckling unbeaten 62 from No. 6 batsman Umair Ali and a solid start from opener Rohan Mustafa enabled One Stop Tourism coast to a 37run win over Defenders CC in Group A of the DCC’s Ramadan T20 Bash tournament at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium over the weekend.

Put into bat, One Stop were given a flying start by their openers Rohan and Hafiz Kaleem. While Rohan took time to settle down his partner at the other end cut loose.

Hafiz was on fire as he clobbered a six and four fours before he departed for a 13-ball 28. Meanwhile Rohan continued to keep the scoreboard ticking and in the company of one-down Adil Mirza the team looked in a good position. But two wickets in quick succession, that of Adil (19) and Ghulam Shabbir (2), brought Defenders back in the match.

Their joy however turned out to be short lived as Mohd Usman slammed a quickfire 28 from 20 balls. But when Umair Ali stepped in to bat, the Defenders bowlers and fielders had to run for cover. He and Rohan put on 51 runs for the fourth wicket. Rohan struck a masterclass 60 from 46 balls with seven fours but it was Umair who took away the match from Defenders with some merciless hitting. In 18 balls he whacked eight towering sixes and two fours to return to the pavilion unconquered on 62.

Opener Mohd Ashfaq kept Defenders in the chase of a mammoth target with a superb 79 from 50 balls (4x6, 4x4) and Farrukh Kazmi (23) and Rizwan Amanat (22) tried in vain only for the team to fall short against some brilliant bowling from Man of the Match Rohan Mustafa (329), Ali Afzal (2-34) and Ahmed Raza (2-33).