ONCE again, Singapore skipper Rezza Gaznavi led from the front with an all-round effort to carry Singapore to a 48-run win over Saudi Arabia in an Asian Cricket Council Under-15 Group B match in Nepal on 29 November 2007.
The No.3 batsman, who hit 63 in the previous match against Afghanistan on Tuesday, cracked 68 and returned figures of 7-0-17-2 to earn the Man-of-the-Match award.
More importantly, the win puts Singapore in contention for a place in the semi-finals. The Republic must win their last match against Kuwait to advance, after the United Arab Emirates were disqualified for failing to adhere to the tournament rules by failing to have the minimum two players holding their passport.
On Thursday, Singapore won the toss and batted. Rezza went to the crease at 15-1 after 5.2 overs and when he departed after 33.3 overs, he had helped the score reach 158-6. His 65-ball innings included five fours and a six.
Rezza and Prasheen Param (29) featured in a 78-run stand for the fourth wicket. The other contributors were Usman Manzir with 26, including a big straight six, and Yusof Aslam’s quick 15.
Usman and Yusof put on a 36-run seventh-wicket stand in 4.1 overs to ensure that the score breached the 200-run target set by coach Chetan Suryawanshi.
“We know either team had to win to stay alive in the tournament,’’ said Suryawanshi. “So we set a plan to bat and get a 200-plus total for the bowlers not to feel the pressure. It worked. We need to do it again against Kuwait and make it to the last four.”
Saudi’s reply showed that they had the batting talent. Each of their top four batsmen looked impressive as their drives and cut shots raced to the boundary. Within the first 15 overs, the Saudi batsmen had already smacked send 11 fours. But the Singapore bowlers came back strongly to check their opponents.
Left-arm spinner Abhiraj Singh and Rezza grabbed two wickets each as the pair returned impressive figures of 7-0-23-2 and 7-0-17-2 respectively.
Team manager Harnam Singh said the victory was impressive but the boys were not sharp in the second half of the Saudi innings. “I thought we should have denied them at least 20-30 runs and although we won, we have to be on our toes all the time.”
Brief scores: Singapore 206-8 in 40 overs (Anvesh Bulusu 12, Rezza Gaznavi 68, Prasheen Param 29, Usman Manazir 26, Yusof Aslam 15) Saudi Arabia 158-8 in 40 overs (Varun Sivaram 1-35, Iishaan Shekhar 1-24, Abhiraj Singh 2-23, Rezza Gaznavi 2-17). |
