Abu Dhabi Indian School freely admit they will be out for revenge when they take on PAK Eagles in the quarter-finals of the Under-15s Sport360° National School League next weekend.
They set up a date with the team from the Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed Arab Pakistan School thanks to a five-wicket win over Efians Army of the Emirates Future International School at the Nursery Ovals.
Neither coach, SB Dey, nor man of the match Vijay Uday minced words when they said they would be aiming for payback when the teams, who finished first and second in the Abu Dhabi and Al Ain group stages, meet for a shot at the semi-finals next week. “Last time we lost against them so this is a golden chance for revenge,” said Dey.
Uday added: “We want to beat them badly.” Uday had laid the foundations that paved the way to victory in the first innings, taking 5-12 as Efians Army were reduced to just 100-9 from their 20 overs.
Despite this, it was a rocky road for ADIS, who stuttered after losing openers Jonathan Figy John and Sahil Haniani, before composing themselves to win with five overs to spare.
Saif Rahan, in at No7, was the main reason Efians had anything to defend, his unbeaten 26 in the middle order somewhat making up for the six batsmen before him scoring a total of just 13 runs between them.
They were 32-5 at one stage before Rahan and Efians’ 52 extras just about got them to triple figures and post a respectable total.
To be fair to Efians, they had little answer to Uday’s blistering figures, while Kevin Chacko (1-5 and one run-out) and Ishmeet Singh (1-6 and two catches) provided a beefy supporting cast. John picked up where he had left off before Christmas, blitzing his way to 37 off 28 balls, including three fours, putting on a 50 partnership with fellow opener Haniani (6).
ADIS then lost four wickets for 20 runs, before Abishek Prakash (15 not out) steadied the ship. Dey added: “I told my boys that if they lose they’re out of the tournament. I said stay disciplined and enjoy the game.”
Looking ahead, he added: “We are looking forward to the next match against PAK Eagles. That will be a vital match. If we win that we can go all the way, but we’ll take it one game at a time.”
Star man Uday added: “We thought it would be a lot more comfortable than that but we lost a lot of wickets and maybe got a bit nervous, but we played well at the end and won.
“We dug in and got over the line.” Efians’ coach Mashooq Ahmad was proud of the way his team battled, but with six of them having played for the U13s earlier in the day, he said they always faced an uphill struggle: “I’m a little bit disappointed because my batsmen didn’t do well.
But they were tired as they played for the U13s also; there were four or five out there,” said Ahmad. In fact, six of his team had played just hours earlier, including Fazal Shahid, Essam Ahmed, Ishit Patel, Sagar Binu, Aymon Maab and Yasir Akbar Ali.
