Cricket: Oman players to feature in T20 Arabian Cricket Carnival in Bahrain

Sports Saturday 23/September/2017 22:08 PM
By: Times News Service
Cricket: Oman players to feature in T20 Arabian Cricket Carnival in Bahrain

Muscat: Confirming the growing stature of Oman cricket and the popularity of the Sultanate’s players, as many as 11 players from Oman have been invited to be part of an all new Twenty20 championship - the Arabian Cricket Carnival, in Bahrain.
Being touted as the biggest cricketing event in Bahrain, the Arabian Cricket Carnival Twenty20 (ACC T20) will be organised by Bahrain Cricket Centre (BCC) and KHK MMA Bahrain at Bahrain National Stadium in Isa Town from September 27 to October 6.
The tournament, to be organised under the patronage of His Highness Shaikh Khalid bin Hamad Al Khalifa, First Deputy President of the Supreme Council for Youth and Sports, will be a six team affair.
According to the organisers, teams of 12 players from around the GCC will come together to play against each other, with every team being given four international players.
The organisers have named the teams as Bahrain Brave Hearts, Kuwait Crusaders, Oman Avengers, Dubai Destroyers, Emirates Hurricane and Arab Rangers.
The 11 Oman players invited for the Carnival are Aaqib Ilyas, Amir Ali, Khawar Ali, Jatinder Singh, Munis Ansari, Sufyan Mahmood, Yousuf Rahim Al Balushi, Mehran Khan, Babar Ali, Fayyaz Butt and Sajjad Khawaraki.
When contacted by Times Sport, the Omani star Sufyan Mahmood confirmed all 11 players have been invited by the organisers to take part in the Bahrain cricket carnival.
“All I can say at this juncture is that we have been invited by the organisers of the Arabian Cricket Carnival and we are all excited to take part in the event,” Sufyan said.
“A representative (agent) of the organisers has been given the responsibility of roping in the players from the GCC countries and he got in touch with us and invited us to play in the tournament.”
“We are eagerly looking forward for the tournament to start,” he added.
In different teams
All the players from Oman, however, will not be playing for Oman Avengers.
“All of us will be not be playing for Oman Avengers or any other team for that matter. In fact, at this moment we don’t know which team each of us will be representing,” Sufyan informed.
“What we know is that we will be playing in different teams. And we will know our respective teams in a day or two,” he added.
The organisers, meanwhile, informed that four international players will act as the mentors of their respective teams.
Among those international stars are Sri Lanka’s Dilhara Fernando, Ricardo Powell and Pedro Collins of West India, South Africa’s Johan van der Wath, Justin Kemp and Rusty Theron, England’s Monty Panesar, Brett Hutton and Alex George Wakely.
Stars and glamour
The organisers also informed that former India captain Mohammad Azharuddin is expected to make a special appearance while the presence of celebraties from Bollywood and Lollywood will add glamour to the event.
Some of the cine stars who will be part of the carnival are Suniel Shetty, Kangana Ranut, Jackie Shroff, John Abraham, Sohail Khan, Gauhar Khan and Arjun Rampal.
The tournament, which the organisers are expecting to transform the game’s popularity to an altogether a different level of ‘cricketainment’, will be televised live on Sony TV with action taking place each day from 1.00 pm to 4.30 pm and 5.00 pm to 8.30 pm.
Teams:
1. Bahrain Brave Hearts
2. Kuwait Crusaders
3. Oman Avengers
4. Dubai Destroyers
5. Emirates Hurricane
6. Arab Rangers
Oman players:
Aaqib Ilyas (Muscat CT)
Jatinder Singh (Muscat CT)
Munis Ansari (Muscat CT)
Amir Ali (Passage to India)
Sajjad Khawaraki (Passage to India)
Yousuf Rahim Al Balushi (Bank Muscat, OCT Seeb)
Sufyan Mahmood (Enhance)
Khawar Ali (Enhance)
Mehran Khan (Enhance)
Babar Ali (Enhance)
Fayyaz Butt (Enhance)