Gemini Arabians had an explosive century from Virender Sehwag to thank for winning what had the makings of a classic contest against Sagittarius Strikers at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium.
Sehwag’s quick-fire 134 was offset by a hat-trick from Kishmar Santioke and the Strikers batted valiantly in reply to the Arabians’ 224 but fell short by only 12 runs.
It was a convincing win for the Arabians in the top-table clash with the Strikers.
With Capricorn Commanders defeating Libra Legends by eight wickets later, the Arabians now are commanding the table with four wins from as many games.
There were other moments of brilliance in the first game but the fate of the match was never in doubt once Sehwag’s bat started to do the talking.
His 62-ball knock had 11 sixes, one aerial shot more than the boundaries he crossed. Once the opener was trapped leg before to Yasser Arafat, nobody else seemed in a mood to bat. Six wickets fell in the span of the final eight deliveries with the West Indies medium pacer Santioke helping himself to a five-wicket haul.
The chase never caught on with the dangerous opener Adam Gilchrist caught behind in the first over of the Strikers’s reply.
Imran Farhat took charge with a half-century but the Sri Lanka off-spinner Muthiah Muralitharan stepped in with three wickets to apply the brakes. Some lusty blows in the end by Santokie and Shane Bond failed to take the Strikers across the line.
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