Seven Seas sail into Danube semis

Ghulam Rasoul scored a vital 40 to help Seven Seas Strikers from a difficult situation to overcome Yogi Group by four wickets to enter the semifinals of the Danube Ramadan T20 Cup at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium on Tuesday night.

The tournament is hosted by Dubai Sports City under the auspices of Dubai Cricket Council and sponsored by Danube Group with Khaleej Times, Ten Cricket and Radio 4 as media partners.

After restricting Yogi Group for a meagre 111, Seven Seas looked favourites to surpass the total without much fuss.

But Yogi Group fast bowlers Mohammed Rameez and Usmaan Malvi struck crucial blows to pick up two wickets each as Seven Seas were tottering at 24 for four.

Baber Ali and Rasoul halted the Yogi Group attack from making any further inroads as the duo shared an important 53 runs for the fifth wicket.

Ali adopted a cautious approach to score a steady 29 from as many balls. He was unlucky to be run out but Rasoul remained patient but played his shots freely to hit a 34-ball 40 consisting of four boundaries and one six.

Qadir Nawaz supported him well sharing a 24-run stand for the sixth wicket when Rasoul was out.

But Nawaz took care of the rest hammering 19 from 19 deliveries consisting of three boundaries to take Seven Seas into the last four.

Earlier, Yogi Group’s decision to bat first looked to backfire when Qadir accounted for three top order wickets. He bowled three overs conceding just 16 runs.

Opener Naveed Malik was the only one to provide some parity scoring 17 from 13 balls with two fours.

At 45 for four, nothing seemed to be going right for Yogi Group.

Number seven batsman Mohammad Rameez revived the innings bringing some hope back to Yogi Group as he struck 33 runs from the 25 balls he faced. His innings was studded with a three boundaries and one six.

He also shared an important 24-run partnership with Mohammad Ajmal, who slammed a eight-ball 15 before Yogi Group folded up at 111 in 19.3 overs.

Rana Kashif too picked up three wickets in his 3.3 overs conceding 22 runs while while Rasool took two in his four overs giving away 20 runs.

Brief scores

Seven Seas Strikers bt Yogi Group by 4 wickets: Yogi Group 111 all out in 19.3 overs (Mohammed Rameez 33, Naveed Malik 17, Mohammed Ajmal 15; Qadir Nawaz 3-16, Rana Kashif 3-22, Ghulam Rasoul 2-20). Seven Seas 112 for 6 in 16.4 overs (Baber Ali 29, Rasoul 40, Nawaz 19 not out; Mohammed Rameez 2-21, Usman Malvi 2-10). Man of the Match: Danube Man of the match: Ghulam Rasoul of Seven Seas Strikers.
 

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.