While MEIS came up trumps against the IISR side in the Under-15 final, the IISR under-19 squad turned the tables on the MEIS senior side in the other final. Both the finals were abandoned midway following a sudden sandstorm, and the winners were decided on the RCA’s rules and regulations No. 33 that governs the decision to be taken when a match is interrupted or abandoned.
The tournament started on March 24 and ended on May 26. Four teams from U-15 and three teams in U-19 contested. The U-15 tournament was a round robin contest with each team playing each other to decide the eventual top two finalists, while it was a double round-robin in the U-19 contest. Top two teams qualified for the final, but in a case of a tie the Net-Run-Rate was taken into account.
Tariq Butt, Hassan Khan, Mohammed Saleh, Abdul Majeed, Syed Naser and Waseem were the umpires.
The finals, played before Chief Guest Arab News Editor in Chief Khaled Almaeena, had to be abandoned due to the onset of a strong sandstorm.
The rule No. 33 was employed to resolve the issue. The rule states: “In case of rain, bad weather or bad light, in 10 overs, when a minimum of 5 overs for each team is not possible the teams will share one point each and in 20 overs, if a minimum of 10 overs for each team is not possible the teams will share one point each. There will be no rescheduling of matches. In case a team has already batted for more than 5 overs in T10 and 10 overs in T20, their scores at 5 overs in T10 and 10 overs in T20 shall be considered for match result but their run rate shall be considered for the overs played.”
This rule decided the outcome of the final played between IISR and MEIS in the U-15 was decided in the MEIS favor.
The IISR batted first and scored 127 in their allotted overs. Mukul scored 55 runs with support from Nabil 20 and Yahya 13. MEIS bowler Hisham took 2 wickets for 27 runs and Saad had 1-24.
For MEIS, Arif scored 22 and Hisham 16 before the sandstorm interrupted the game. At this stage, MEIS had scored in 10.4 overs 71 for three wickets. When the rule was applied, the IISR score after 10 overs was 54 for three wickets, handing the former victory.
Whereas, in the U-19 category, the two teams met again with the IISR again batting first to rack up 214 in 20 overs. Good batting by Asif Mushtaq 89 not out and Firaz Kazi 41 with support from Falah 24 and Zaid 24 not out boosted the tally. The MEIS then managed 100 for three in 13.2 overs with Bilal 30, Osama 27 and Waleed 26 leading the way while IISR’s Firaz (2-33) and Amir (1-23) were among the wickets. As per RCA’s rule, as the match was stopped, the 10-overs total was considered. IISR were declared winners as they scored 100 runs in 10 overs while MEIS scored 69 in their 10 overs.
Almaeena thanked the RCA committee for their efforts in making the event a success. Almaeena, while referring to the sandstorm that led to the abandonment of the finals, said human endeavors could on occasion be stymied by sudden actions of the elements, but despite all that “it was a success.”
RCA President Abdul Qadeer Mirza, while thanking Almaeena for sponsoring the event as well as making time to attain the final, said: “This was the first time in the history of RCA that our finals were stopped by a sandstorm. But we are fortunate there were no injuries to the school kids and their families.”
Aasif Sheikh, RCA secretary general and the head of the school committee, thanked all the schools for the cooperation and all members of RCA committee for their efforts to make this tournament a success.
The awards ceremony was held at the Sholay Banquet hall.
The award winners:
U15
Best All Rounder: Mohammed Hisham Shaikh (MEIS) — 269 runs with 31 boundaries & 2 sixes. He also took 5 wickets.
U19
Best Batsman: Syed Falahuddin (IISR) — 187 runs with 21 boundaries & 1 six.
Best Bowler: Shahid Baghar (MEIS) — 99 runs with 14 boundaries & 1 six. He also took 5 wickets.
Best All Rounder: Firas Kazi (IISR) — 175 runs with 22 boundaries & 1 six. He also took 14 wickets.
Appreciation awards for the following committee members: Haneef Baber; Tariq Butt; Amjad Iqbal.
Man of the match: IISR vs MEIS U15 – Mukul Chikara 55 runs; IISR vs MEIS U19 – Asif Mushtaq 89 not out.
Special awards for maximum boundaries and sixes:
Mohammed Hisham Shaikh (max boundaries in the tournament 31); Zaid Mushtaq (max sixes in the tournament 2).
RCA president presented participation shields to school principals: a. Indian International School (U15); b. MEIS (U15); c. Indian Public School (U15); d. Bangladesh International School (U19); e. MEIS (U19) and f. Indian International School (U19).
