#360stats: The Dubai Super League reaches its midway point

Sport360 staff 21:57 16/12/2015
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  • The DSL is halfway through the season.

    The Dubai Super League, which is currently in its third edition, has reached the middle of the season with every team having played 6-7 games, half of what they will play before the knock out stage. The competition this year has been intense, which is evident from the fact that a mere 3 points separate The Cricketers Club (TCC), the team at the top, and Wombats Yellow, the team placed in 5th position.

    TCC, winners of the first ever DSL and runners up of the second edition, began this season as favorites for the title. With every game this season they have demonstrated why they are one of the top teams in the circuit. TCC is one of the only two teams that have lost only 1 game thus far and they are well placed for a position in the DSL Semifinals.

    Besides their one loss to Wombats Black in the second game of the DSL, TCC has been in top form. Their batsmen, primarily Abir Chippa, Syed Owais, and Umair Qazi have been in fine touch with the former two among the top 10 leading run scorers for the league.

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    In TCC’s first game of the league against Darjeeling, they overhauled a daunting total of 207 with ease on the back of Umair’s 53 off 27 deliveries and Abir’s 54 off 37 deliveries. In the match against Cool Boys, TCC were staring down the barrel with the scoreboard reading 76-5 after 13 overs, while chasing 178 for victory; but a match turning century partnership between Farjad Tanveer (32 off 29) and Syed Owais turned the game on its head. Owais took the game away single handedly scoring an unbeaten 107 off 58 deliveries with 7 fours and 5 sixes leading TCC to an improbable 4 wicket victory with 1 over to spare.

    TCC’s bowlers have been in fine form as well with pace spearhead Omeir Dawoodji, leg spinner Usman Malik, and off spinner Mubashar Hussain all among the top 10 wicket takers of the DSL.

    SCB, another team that has been a part of the DSL since its first edition, has also given a strong showing thus far, having lost just one match, also to the Wombats Black. Their captain, Haroon Zafar, has been in fine form with the bat and is among the top 10 run scorers of the DSL thus far, while two of their bowlers, Neeraj Malhotra and Muhammad Jahangir, are among the top 10 wicket takers.

    SCB have been a revelation this season with a number of impressive performances. One of them took place in the earlier stages of the DSL against Wombats Yellow. Batting first they posted a seemingly low total of 154. Haroon Zafar was the chief architect of the batting effort with a well-paced 59. Daniyal starred for the Yellows with a 5 wicket haul. Knowing that they were defending a less than optimal total, SCB came out firing on all cylinders with fantastic opening spells from Munaj and Ali Tahir. With regular strikes, SCB never let the Yellows get ahead of the asking rate and remained in control of the game. Neeraj and Muhammad Jahangir pitched in with useful wickets towards the end and SCB restricted the Yellows to 141 for a memorable win.  

    Wombats Black began this season looking like a team with purpose winning three games on the trot, which included convincing wins over table toppers TCC and SCB. However, two losses – against Darjeeling and Wombats Yellow – set their progress back. They are still among the top 4 in the points table and look well set to make the DSL semifinals.

    Wombats Black’s batsmen have been in marvelous touch, this season, with three of them – Tauseef Qadri, skipper Haroon Ghaus, and Rehan Ali – among the top 10 run scorers of the DSL. Tauseef is heading that table with a tally of 287 runs with an average of 57.4 and strike rate of 139.3; while Haroon is leading the number of 50s scored this season with three to his name. Both Tauseef and Haroon have played key roles in Wombats Black posting dominating totals and successfully chasing steep targets.

    Wombats Black began their campaign with thumping wins over TCC and SCB. In both games they rode on extraordinary batting from Tauseef who scored 85 in both games helping Blacks score 205 and 200 respectively. The bowling then choked up the runs to gain bonus points in both games. Special mention to Atif Butt who with figures of 5 for 29 was single handedly responsible for hampering TCC’s run chase.

    The match between HSBC and Wombats Black was one of the many closely fought encounters. Chasing 177 to win in 23 overs, Blacks were staring at defeat with 54 required of the last 5 overs. Haroon Ghaus (68 runs off 49 balls), first with Atif Ilyas, and then with Munad built quick fire partnerships to guide the Blacks home with 5 balls to spare. HSBC were destined to a second loss in two consecutive games in the last over showing just how cut throat the competition has been this season.

    Leading Run Scorers – DSL 2015-16

    Darjeeling, after an indifferent start to the DSL, have caught up rapidly and are now looking good among the top 4 teams in the DSL. Their strong march towards the top has been led by their batsmen Sugeesha Dinushan, Rhys Carter, Jonathan Houghton, Jamie Smibert, and Ben Jones all of whom have displayed a dominant batting display thus far. Rhys especially has been in tremendous form and has been instrumental in laying a solid foundation for Darjeeling in every game. Rhys and Jonathan are both among the top 10 run scorers of the DSL and are also the only other two batsmen with three fifties each thus far. Sugeesha, Rhys, and Jamie are the only three batsmen in the DSL who are averaging above 100 with the bat; while Sugeesha, Jamie, and Ben are batting with strike rates above 130. Darjeeling are definitely one of the best batting sides in the DSL this season and they are looking strong among the top 4.

    Sugeesha has also performed exceptionally with the ball and is currently the joint leading wicket taker of the DSL with 10 wickets at an average of 13.8.

    Darjeeling had their backs against the wall in the match against the then table toppers (Wombats Black) after letting them post a target of 185. Darjeeling’s openers had other ideas though and made the chase look as easy as a pie. Rhys, one of the best batsmen of the tournament, and Jonathan with 75* and 79 respectively ensured that Darjeeling register a ruthless win by 3 wickets. One of the best chases in DSL this season finished with immaculate ease.

    Darjeeling also beat Wombats Yellow in another easy win for them. Darjeeling posted a score of 186 thanks largely to a final burst by Sugeesha and Viv. Sugeesha scored a fine 87 to boost his allround credentials. He then with the help of Viv (2-27) and Nathan (4-39) restricted the Yellows to help Darjeeling to a 31 run victory.

    Leading Wicket Takers – DSL 2015-16

    Wombats Yellow have arguably one of the best bowling attacks in the league with a mix of pacers and an army of spinners, three of whom, Daniyal, Awais, and Naqi Shah are among the leading wicket takers in the DSL thus far. Omar Hayat, the second highest run getter of the DSL, began their campaign with the first DSL century of this season against the Cool Boys, whom they defeated easily after posting a daunting 229. The Yellows followed this up with a trilling last ball finish against HSBC with Fazil’s patient 71 and a quick fire 42 from Masam helping them chase down 180.

    The closest game of the DSL thus far was the game between the two Wombats teams. With a high level of familiarity among the teams, game plans were extensive and traps comprehensive. Batting first, the Yellows posted a challenging 184 on the back of a magnificent unbeaten innings of 88 by Syed Raza. Despite a solid start by the Black’s openers, Masam claimed both openers in a fiery spell, following which the spinners squeezed the life out of the chase. As the required run rate approached 10 an over, Haroon launched a counter attack that saw Blacks score 50 runs of 6 overs, before he lost his wicket. Eventually it all boiled down to Blacks requiring 15 runs of the last over to be bowled by Masam. The Yellows were on top after the first 3 balls with only 4 runs conceded and one wicket taken. The fourth ball was hit for a six by Munad and the equation came down to 7 of 2 balls. With the fifth ball going for two runs, the Blacks required 5 runs of the last ball. Needless to say most nails had been chewed off and encore of the famous Miandad six in Sharjah was on the cards. Masam ran in and delivered a ball outside the off stump into the block hole to set of wild celebrations from the Yellows.

    The competition remains wide open among the top 5 teams, all of whom are well positioned to make it to the knock out stages. However, all hope is still not lost yet for the Loose Cannons, HSBC, and Cool Boys. Cricket has resulted in way too many unexpected results over the years that ruling any team out at this stage would be foolish. The way the results have gone till date, we are in for an even more exciting ride as the rest of the group stage unravels over the next 2 months.

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