UBL clinched the UAE Exchange Trophy with a four-wicket victory over Colombo Lions in a thrilling final at Zayed Cricket Stadium in Abu Dhabi.
With four overs remaining and 30 to win, UBL held their nerve to overhaul 134 inside 18.4 overs thanks to Aqeel Anwar’s 16 runs off five balls, which included three boundaries.
Sanjeeva Dias finished with 4-21 while UAE international Amjad Ali top-scored with an unbeaten 39. Earlier, UBL captain Qazi Ayub led from the front to claim three wickets (3-20) which included the scalps of Chathura Deshapriya, who top-scored with 38 in Colombo Lions’ 133/7 off 20 overs.
It was the first T20 title of the year for UBL, and Ayub, adjudged Man of the Match, was delighted with the triumph and hopes more trophies will follow.
“It’s amazing to win this trophy,” said Ayub. “The boys’ are extremely happy to be on the winning side. In previous years, we were performing well but didn’t do enough to reach the final.”
“We played like a team. We took the singles and the twos, and there was a lot of turn on the wicket. We tried to build some partnerships and thankfully we reached the target.”
The captain admitted the pitch forced him to make some changes to the batting line-up but praised his bowlers for restricting Colombo Lions to 133.
“We didn’t analyse the ball would turn like that. We made a few changes to the line-up during that middle period.
“Our spinners came and did the job for us and got the wickets to restrict the target.”
The 95-game tournament sanctioned by the Abu Dhabi Cricket Club (ADCC), began in October with 40 teams, and ADCC and Emirates Cricket Board (ECB) chief executive officer David East said the entertaining final was a perfect way to end the competition.
“It was a very hard fought contest between two teams who have been very competitive in this competition. It was a low-scoring game but it was very skilfully played and congratulations to UBL for this victory,” said East.
“Low-scoring matches can always be tense because teams have to play very carefully and that played a part in making this such a great match to watch.”
Earlier, after being put in to bat, Colombo Lions recovered from an early loss to reach 67-2 and looked set to achieve a respectable target with the game barely 10 overs old.
However, the Lions suffered a batting collapse, losing their next five wickets for 39 runs with Ayub dismissing Arunalu De Silva (2) and Nuwan Wickramasooriya (0).
Mohammad Fazil (10) and Dilan George then got together and hit some crucial boundaries to post 133-7. Ahmed Raza, Zaheer Maqsood and Ayaz Khan shared one wicket each.
In reply, UBL maintained their scoring rate despite wickets falling, but with some misfielding and crucial partnerships the champions saw out the game.
