Muscat: Sarco LLC defeated Zawawi Powertech by 5 wickets in the final of Oman Cricket’s A-division T20 season 2021/22 at the Oman Cricket Academy on April 2, 2022.
Electing to bat first after winning the toss, none of the Zawawi Powertech batsmen managed to get going. Arun Dev and Vijay Anand Dayanandan were the only ones to cross the 20-run mark. The latter led the scoring with a 21-ball 23.
A high turnover rate for batters at the crease cost Zawawi dearly. The opening partnership of 19 was their highest of the innings and bar Arun and Vijay, Prabhakaran Kannan was the only other player to reach double figures. They were bundled out for 81, with 3 overs to spare.
Sarco LLC on the other hand were brilliant. Their alert fielding scuppered the batsmen’s hopes of keeping the scoreboard ticking with routine singles and doubles. That pressure came to benefit the bowlers and all of them ended the innings with a minimum of 1 wicket next to their name.
Player of the Match Pradeep Salian, who received his award from Varun Khimji, Director of Khimji Ramdas at the post-match presentation ceremony, impressed the most. He finished on figures of 3/17 after 3 overs. Nazish Mohammad was the other one to claim more than 1 scalp.
In response, despite a wobble in the middle overs, Sarco LLC got over the line in 14.2 overs.
Openers Sathisha Achary and Rakesh Patel made their way to scores of 19 and 18 and took their side halfway home. However, both of them were unable to stay put and seal the victory.
Their dismissals were followed by an unconvincing display from the Sarco middle order, with all of Prabathindika Withane, Deepak Kumar Shetty and Zahid Hafiz walking back for single digit scores.
However, Zawawi simply did not have enough runs on the board to take advantage and a 5-ball 16 run blitz from Ajay Menon proved enough to crown Sarco LLC champions of the A-division (T20) season 2021/22.
Vijeesh Velunni was the second innings’ most potent bowler. He claimed 2 scalps in his 3 overs. Arun Dev, Nishad K S and Kalaiarasan Natarajan picked up 1 wicket apiece.
With 153 runs in 5 matches, Sathisha Achary finished as the tournament’s leading run-getter. Rakesh Patel, also of Sarco LLC, was the most effective with the ball. He picked up 11 wickets in his 5 outings in the competition.
BRIEF SCORES:
Zawawi Powertech 81/10 in 17 overs (Vijay Anand Dayanandan 23(21) 1 x 4, 1 x 6 ; Pradeep Salian 17/3) lost to Sarco LLC 82/5 in 14.2 overs (Sathisha Achary 19(12) 3 x 4 ; Vijeesh Velunni 16/2) by 5 wickets
