Bilal Irshad blasted the first century of the Interface Transworld Ramadan Cup and guided the hosts to a four-wicket win over Multiplex International at the Fairground Oval at Dubai Men’s College.
Irshad looked unstoppable as he smashed a 50-ball 102 which contained 11 boundaries and five maximums, as his team chased 191 with 19 balls to spare in a Group B match.
After putting Multiplex in to bat first, Interface made early inroads by claiming two quick wickets.
Syed Maqsood and middle-order batsman and captain Zeeshan Khan then revived Multiplex’s innings with a 61-run partnership.
Maqsood scored a brisk 39 from 23 balls while Khan crafted a well-compiled 68 off 66 balls.
Obaidullah made a useful contribution with 29 off 31 balls towards the end in a healthy total of 191 from 30 overs, while Mohammad Mudasir finished with 4-38.
In reply, Interface got off to the ideal start with openers Pradeep Malik (21) and Hiten Dalal (24) looking good in the chase, but both were dismissed with 58 runs on the scoreboard.
Nitesh Rana (18) and Ramveer Rai (19) tried to keep the chase going, but the pair also failed to hold up their end.
But with Irshad still at the crease, Interface were not in imminent danger of losing the plot. In the end, Irshad single-handedly carried his team past the target.
In a Group A encounter, Al Jabeen Heroes put New Medical Centre (NMC) bowlers to the sword by posting 265, the highest total of the tournament so far, and then got them out for 184 to register an 81- run win.
Richi Yaqoob (75), Sultan Ansari (54) and Yasir Kaleem (46) were the main contributors for Al Jabeen despite Manjula Guruge shining with the ball for NMC with figures of 5-49.
NMC threatened to get past the target when Niresh Fernando (25) and Mohammad Usman (84) put on 97 runs for the first wicket.
But once Sultan Ansari got rid of both the batsmen, it was Imran Munir’s turn to rip through the lower order with a five-wicket haul.
Elsewhere, Alubond Tigers won their second successive match in Group C of the same tournament when they thrashed Wings SRT Cricket Club by 49 runs.
Batting first, Alubond compiled 167-9 from 30 overs while Wings were all out for 118.
