Brown pleased as Team Abu Dhabi end campaign on a high

Abu Dhabi - Najibullah Zadran’s brilliant, unbeaten 45 runs off just 16 balls and opener Paul Stirling’s 26 off nine balls helped Team Abu Dhabi post an impressive 124 for 6

The Team Abu Dhabi were without their West Indian superstar Chris Gayle, but that didn’t stop them from finishing their campaign on a high as they beat the Qalandars by 21 runs in the third-place play-off of the Abu Dhabi T10 on Saturday.

Najibullah Zadran’s brilliant, unbeaten 45 runs off just 16 balls and opener Paul Stirling’s 26 off nine balls helped Team Abu Dhabi post an impressive 124 for 6.

Their bowlers then restricted the Qalandars to 103 for 5 in 10 overs at the Zayed Cricket Stadium.

“It’s nice to finish third, five other teams didn’t do that. It would have been nice to play the final, but we lost the first two matches (in the tournament) and to come back and finish third is great,” Dougie Brown, the Team Abu Dhabi coach said after the match.

UAE off-spinner Rohan Mustafa bagged two wickets for 19 runs. He was well supported by some accurate bowling from the other bowlers.

It was a sad end for Qalandars who won five consecutive games, but lost the last three matches.

“It feels good to end the tournament on a high. But still a bit upset that we lost the match (on Friday) from a winning position. Having said that, it’s good to finish in the third position. We deserved to be in the final, but nevertheless we showed that we are the third best team in the tournament,” Mustafa said.

Earlier, Zadran and opener Stirling had set the tone for Team Abu Dhabi with their brilliant attacking display.

Daniel Bell-Drummond (46, 19 balls, 5 fours, 3 sixes) was the Qalandars lone warrior in the chase as the wickets kept falling around him.

“As I said, I am delighted to finish third. We had a young side tonight and we played some really good cricket. We left out some senior players. And the young players have responded and we went out with a win, which is great,” Brown said.

Among the young players to have impressed for the Team Abu Dhabi on Saturday was 20-yar-old UAE spinner Karthik Meiyappan (1/21) who impressed with his variations in length, dismissing the Qalandars top-scorer Bell-Drummond.

Brown was highly impressed with Meiyappan and he also praised the veteran Mustafa.

“Rohan has played in every edition of T10. He gets better and better. He is so reliable. He takes responsibility in different passage of the game. And it’s great to see Karthik bowling as well as he did after getting the opportunity. It’s a shame that conditions here don’t really allow us to play two spinners. But he really showed his potential tonight,” Brown said.

Brief scores

Team Abu Dhabi beat Qalandars by 21 runs

Team Abu Dhabi 124/6 in 10 overs (Najibullah Zadran 45 not out, Paul Stirling 26, Leonardo Julien 19, Kushal Malla 18; Mohammad Zahid 2/10, Sohail Tanvir 1/12, Khurshid Anwar 1/12, Ali Khan 1/13)

Qalandars 103/5 in 10 overs (Daniel Bell-Drummond 46, Sohail Akhtar 17; Rohan Mustafa 2/19, Obed McCoy 1/17, Jamie Overton 1/19, Karthik Meiyappan 1/21)

Man of the match: Rohan Mustafa