Modern, DPS champs

Having previously seen their older counterparts fall to a comprehensive seven-wicket reverse on Saturday, the DPS Sharjah u13s took to the field eager to redress the balance and level things up across the two finals overall.

Divyendu Shekhar, who was later named the player of the finals and tournament in this age category, led DPS's charge by smashing an unbeaten 77 off just 70 balls as his XI finished their 20-over allocation on 119/6.

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He received good support from Arshaq Ahamed and Atharva Kavi out in the middle as well, while Dubai Modern High's Nikhil Srinivasan (2-19) did his utmost to stem the tide.

In reply, Dubai Modern High looked to be comfortably on their way to registering a delightful double on the day in the early stages, only for a brisk batting collapse to hastily scupper those high hopes.

They eventually finished up on 56ao after 13 overs, leaving Dubai Modern High coach Shafiq Ahmad to rue a costly implosion midway through their run chase.

“There was a total failure in the middle order and the top-order batsmen who were expected to score didn't do so, especially Shorye Chopra,” he said. “The middle order didn't perform to our expectations and we were then not in a position to make a comeback.”

Meanwhile, Ahmad's counterpart in the DPS Sharjah dugout, Vikram Dutt, put his XI's sublime success down to three key facets.

“It's dedication, discipline and hard work from the boys,” he explained. “I felt that 119 was a fighting total on this wicket, where the ball was keeping low and it's very difficult for stroke-making.

“The boys bowled extremely well and I'm proud of them. Divyendu was also excellent with his bat and the ball. In spite of being injured, he said: 'Look sir, I want to go on.' I then asked him: 'Can you deliver the goods for me?' to which he replied: 'I will Sir.' He went on to get two quick wickets and that was important.”

Earlier, Dubai Modern High chalked up a seven-wicket triumph in the morning's u17 final, where skipper Chopra's 57 n.o. from 51 deliveries steered his school beyond DPS Sharjah's tally (134-6) on 136-3 with two overs to spare.

His partnership with Varun Todadri (29 n.o. off 26 balls) proved pivotal in the final outcome as Aman Handa (1-36) and Shekhar (1-22) just couldn't made that crucial breakthrough.

Pravin Dhruva's 63 from 70 cherries, along with Aakash Malhotra's 27 and Saurabh Gir's 19, had previously propelled DPS Sharjah to 134-6, despite the best efforts of Karthik Dudeja (3-23), Akarsh Sinha (1-17) and Vishal Bali (1-26) for Dubai Modern High in the field.

Dutt blamed poor bowling and fielding for their heavy loss, although he was gracious enough to praise this age group's player of the finals and tournament, Dubai Modern High's Chopra, for his inspired innings.

“That was fantastic batting and he batted really well, so hats off to the guy,” he enthused.

Meanwhile, Ahmad praised the “professional” approach adopted by Chopra and Todadri as they helped knock off the required runs with relish.

This fifth edition of the pan-UAE annual inter-school tournament was held under the auspices of Sharjah Cricket Council and organised by Maxtalent.

Teams: Delhi Private School (DPS) Sharjah u17: Aniket Rodrigues (Captain), Aagam Shah, Furquan Ashiq, Aakash Malhotra, Manik Talwar, Saurabh Gir, Yash Shodan, Sanjeet Malik, Aman Handa, Aman Sachdeva, Divyendu Shekhar, Ali Asgar, Wali Pervez, Pravin Dhruva.

Dubai Modern High School u17: Abhishek Dhar (Captain), Shorye Chopra, Varun Todadri, Yash Narang, Kartikan Diwan, Vishal Bali, Veer Rajpal, Anjaniye Malpani, Shreyas Ravishankar, Deepak Phulwani, Akarsh Sinha, Kurt Pereira, Karthik Dudeja, Madhav Juneja.

Delhi Private School (DPS) Sharjah u13: Divyendu Shekhar (Captain), Tejas Kapoor, Mehul Dhakan, Akashdeep Deb, Arshaq Ahamed, Akash Sharma, Manan Damani, Chiraq Thakur, Ayush Khanna, Joseph Thomas, Rohil Jagwani, Atharva Kavi, Gautam Bhatia, Abhinan Shankar.

Dubai Modern High School u13: Shorye Chopra (Captain), Kartik Dudeja, Vishal Bali, Nikhil Srinivasan, Madhav Juneja, Sushain Thapar, Akshay P.K., Shavnak Pathane, Herman Suri, Vaibhav Pradeep, Sameer Ahmad, Hridesh Sainant, Trevor Xavier.

alex@khaleejtimes.com