Mammoths on a winning spree

dubai - A valiant unbeaten 70 from Harish Pai could not pull Nad Al Sheba to victory after they were chasing a stiff target of 193. In the end Shindagha scampered home by four runs for their third straight win to top the standings in the 3rd League of Mammoths cricket tournament being played at The Sevens ground in Dubai.
The tournament is organised by Dubai Mammoths under the auspices of the Dubai Cricket Council.
Shindagha won the toss and with a half century from Naeem Ahmed (53, 1x6, 2x4), a rapid 49 (2x6, 5x4) from man of the match Abid Choudhary and small but useful contributions from Vinay Tolani (16 not out), Raj Dheeraj (10) and AK Satish (14), they managed to reach 192 for 7 in 25 overs.
NAS were off to a bad start. No. 3 batsman Qais Farooq held fort but wickets kept tumbling at the other end until Harish Pai made his entry and suddenly there was hope for NAS.
Meanwhile Farooq departed for 47 from 36 balls with just a solitary boundary but Pai looked in superb form hitting boundaries at will to put the pressure back on Shindagha.
Just when the target looked reachable Rajesh Thadani (12) who was giving Pai good company got run out and though Chirag Mehtani (11) and Pai kept the flame burning, they didn't have the overs to take their team across the line.
In the other match, Jumeirah Mammoths suffered their third straight loss. After being put in by Zabeel Mammoths, they were restricted to 159 for 9 in 25 overs.
Only Adnan Khan (36) and Ambey Parwatkar (35) did well with the bat while Sheridan H (3 wickets), Ajay Joshi (2) and Abhay Singh Chavan (2) excelled with the ball for Zabeel.
Abhay returned to smash a match-winning unbeaten 70 while Javed Siddique (44) and Sujit Salian (26 n.o.) also contributed in Zabeel's big win. This was their second win from three matches.