Wings Group led by their Afghanistan stars Gulbodin Naib, Dawlat Zadran and Mohammed Nabi blew away Ibsons Cricket Club to win the finals by a huge margin of 174 runs and bag the inaugural Blenheim Champion’s trophy title.
Gulbodin Naib, who has been making a huge impact for the Afghanistan team with his all-round prowess, was the star for Wings, playing a pivotal role with the bat as he made a solid 72 in which he hit eleven fours and a six.
He then bowled a fiery spell in the company of Dawlat Zadran to blow away the Ibson batting which found their pace too hot to handle. Gulbodin bagged four wickets for 42 runs picking up opener Faizan Asif (7), who was smartly caught by Ashfaq, and then came back to haunt Ibsons picking up three more lower order wickets.
Dawlat was not far behind prising out the Ibsons top order in a hostile spell of seven overs in which he gave away only 42 runs and picked up five wickets. Most of the Ibsons batsmen struggled to come to terms against the pace generated by Dawlat who is known for bowling around the 140kph mark. Three batsmen were caught behind the wicket while he clean bowled Baber Malik and Irfan Sajid.
Ibsons, who had cruised into the finals with an unbeaten record, could not find their feet against the Wings Group with their batting in total disarray as only one batsman crossed into double figures with Fayyaz Ahmed making 20 runs towards the end in a lost cause.
Ibsons were in the doldrums when they were 31-6 which then became 41-8 and only Fayyaz’s late contribution got them to a measly total of 84 runs.
Earlier contributions from five of the Wings Group top batsmen helped them pile on a fighting score of 258 runs as Gulbodin, top scored with 72 runs followed by Mohammed Nabi who played a gem of a knock rattling up 63 runs in 49 balls with four sixes and three fours to see his team to a good score.
He finished the game by slamming two sixes of the last over and was caught while trying to hoist Manjula for his third. Ishtiaq Ghouri 31, Zaheer Baig 20, and Nasir Aziz with 38 runs were the other batsmen from Wings Group to shine.
UAE off-spinner Mohammed Tauqeer was the most successful bowler for Ibsons with three wickets while Manjula Guruge and Saqib Ali picked up two each.
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