It was a busy day for the group of boys at Skyline University and although qualification was sealed prior to the final rounds, they had no intention of giving their opponents an easy ride.
NIMS Rising Stars provided their first challenge and although Aqib Sahahabudin helped himself to three wickets, DPS managed 130-5 in their 15 overs. Aditya Manglani didn’t take long to show his potential with the ball.
The medium-pacer needed just seven deliveries to get his first victim, and eventually dismissed four more batters to finish with figures of 5-8 as Rising Stars were all out for 55 inside 12 overs.
DPS coach Ayub Iqbal was thrilled by the manner of victory and spoke glowingly of Manglani.
“He’s a boy who can bowl well but hasn’t been taking many wickets, but we always believed he could deliver,” he said.
“Today, he was exceptional and bowled absolutely brilliantly. The boys put on a good batting show and was even better in the bowling department.”
Manglani was unable to add to his tally for the day as Iqbal made a number of changes for the second game against Leaders XI.
But it was still a comfortable triumph as Aryansh Sharma (30 not out), Agni Bala (2-2), Rishabh Mathur (1-9) and Saransh Kumar (2-8) came up with fine efforts. DPS chased down their 54-run target with six wickets to spare.
Iqbal was pleased to end the group stages on a high, insisting remaining on top was the main target.
“This is a difficult tournament with strong sides from across the country competing,” he said.
“It was always our aim to finish top of the group before we started and we achieved that. We’ll now work hard in training and see who we will get in the quarter-finals.”
