Assarain, Muscat CT make winning start to 50-over league

MUSCAT: Playing without four of its recognised match-winners, including captain Zeeshan Maqsood, who are all away on national duty, Assarain were still able to walk away with a fairly comfortable 51-run win over full-strength Al Turki in a Premier Division 50-over clash at Oman Cricket grassy ground 1 on Friday.
Devoid of its star performers Maqsood, Muhammed Nadeem, Naseem Khushi and Kaleemullah, Assarain showed they had considerable bench strength, posting a fighting 271 for 6 on the board. Kail Khalid topscored with a superb 110 off 104 while big-hitting Rafiullah smashed an unbeaten 70 off only 34 balls including 6 huge sixes. Jignesh Patel and Gopendra Bohara picked up three and two wickets respectively.
Al Turki got off to an excellent start reaching 93 without loss in 22 overs. However three quick wickets saw it slump to 105 for 3 and from there on it proved to be an uphill task for Al Turki as it was dismissed for 220 in the 46^th over. Left-arm spinners VS Shiju and Shakeel Ahmad claimed 3 for 32 and 2 for 32 respectively.
Star Al Turki all-rounder Ajay Lalcheta was their main scorers with 50 off 37 including 2 sixes while captain Twinkle Bhandari contributed 39.
Brief scores (Premier Division): Assarain271 for 6 in 50 overs (Kail Khalid 110 – 16x4, 1x6, Rafiullah 70 not out – 6x4, 6x6. Jignesh Patel 3-47, GopendraBohara 2-51) defeated Al Turki NMC 220 all out in 45.2 overs (Ajay Lalcheta 50 – 4x4, 2x6, Twinkle Bhandari 39 – 2x4, 1x6, Sankata Prasad 35 – 1x4, 1x6. VS Shiju 3-32, Shakeel Ahmad 2-32) by 51 runs.
Ayaan, Samay star in Muscat win
Premier Division’s most consistent performer Ayaan Khan and new talent Samay Shrivastava powered Muscat CT to a thumping 77-run victory against IT Works at the same venue on Saturday.
Muscat CT was reduced to 49 for 4 before a game-turning 125-run fifth wicket partnership between Ayaan (90) and Samay (51) put it on track for a big total but IT Works fought back to restrict Muscat to 220 for 9.
IT Works never really looked like chasing the total and was bundled out for 149 in the 38^th over. Veteran Adnan Ilyas topscored with a solid 55 off 68, hitting 5 fours and 2 sixes. Samay led the bowling honours, taking 3 for 21 while Munis Ansari bagged 2 for 25.
Brief Scores(Premier Division):Muscat CT 226 for 9 in 50 overs (Ayaan Khan 92 – 5x4, 1x6, Samay Shrivastava 51 – 4x4, Muzammal Ilyas 2-31, Waseem Akhtar 2-37) thrashed IT Works 149 all out in 37.2 overs (Adnan Sulehri 55 – 5x4, 2x6, Sudeep Chavan 28 – 2x4, 1x6, Samay Shrivastava 3-21, Munis Ansari 2-25) by 77 runs