A devastating display of batting and bowling laid the platform as Dubai International Academy Wolves’ Under-15s registered a commanding 122-run win over Repton Royals.
DIA continued their charge towards the Sport360 National School League Under-15s title with the mammoth win, while Repton are on the brink of elimination.
After a slow start, Abdulrehman Murad and Hrithik Bhatia combined to get the Wolves’ innings going. Both batsmen took advantage of some sloppy Repton fielding, which included four dropped catches.
Murad, in at No. 4, displayed some beautiful strokeplay on his way to an unbeaten 45 off 36 balls, including three fours.
Bhatia went one better, hitting four boundaries on his way to an impressive 35 off 18 deliveries.
Ayush Walia (13no) anchored the innings, alongside Murad, after Bhatia departed, as DIA posted an imposing 149-4.
DIA #Wolves have just finished batting and are 149/4 at the end of the first innings against #Repton Royals #nsl360 pic.twitter.com/UQ4bLbwh5y
— Sport360° (@Sport_360) October 31, 2014
Omeir Nasser took one wicket for 30 runs and also held a catch, while Anjanaye Rathore recorded the best figures, taking one for 19 runs off his three overs.
Repton captain Tom Bolton and Armaan Waheed each took a wicket.
Repton began their innings confidently enough but soon had little answer to the Wolves’ attack, with man-of-the-match Akbar Khan and Harshit Raj in particular showing their teeth as they chewed up the Repton batting.
Khan conceded just five runs on his way to taking three wickets from four overs, including one maiden.
Raj only conceded eight runs as he too helped himself to three wickets. Mikhail Reily and Gaurav Pradhan took one wicket apiece.
Kareem Jafree top-scored for Repton with seven runs.
Star man Khan said he was pleased with his personal performance as he had been struggling for form prior to the game.
“It feels great, I’ve been out of form of late but this performance was really special and it’s a great moment to cherish,” he said.
He was surprised at how easily his side secured the victory.
“We worked really hard. Repton are a good team and have a lot of potential in their batting. We just outplayed them today with a great bowling and batting performance,” added Khan, who has high hopes for the rest of the NSL. “The aim is to win the tournament convincingly and show the UAE that we are one of the best school teams in the world.”
Coach Hitesh Bhagat said he was pleased with his team’s batting and bowling performances.
“I told the boys to cross 100 [runs] and when you do that the pressure is always on the other team,” he said. On man-of-the-match Akbar, he added: “He has the talent but he just hasn’t been clicking for the last three or four matches.”
Akbar Ali Khan of DIA #Wolves under-15s with his man-of-the-match certificate and ball #nsl360 #UAE pic.twitter.com/3GT1LNOe9V
— Sport360° (@Sport_360) October 31, 2014
Bhagat too is dreaming of a trophy this season: “We want to win the NSL and that’s what the boys have in them. We will try our best.”
Repton counterpart Dan Jones was disappointed with his side’s capitulation.
“We didn’t give a good account of ourselves at all. We’re a much better team than that. There were a few dropped catches and mis-fields so they probably got 40 more runs than they should and then our batting was shambolic,” he said.
Captain Bolton added: “We dropped four catches which affected the game as their batsmen came on to score a lot.”
