The weatherman (to be politically correct weatherperson) for once was nearly on the dot. There were no matches of Friday and true to expectations came the light drizzle which lasted through the day, rather intermittently. The excellent draining mechanism on the Dukhan grounds ensured there was no water logging. Thus the Saturday dawned with a slightly moist outfield, mainly due to the overnight dew, but the sun beating down, which would help the ground to dry quickly. This is common in Dukhan for the morning match. It was not expected of the MRI ball to swing or do any such thing, but it would get heavy. This would make bowling difficult, with bowlers likely to pitch short, but the batsmen would find the going equally tough to put it away over the boundary. Hence as far as advantage to any team, it would be quits. The heavier built players stood to advantage. Thus the quarter-finals began with a rather “heavy” atmosphere, with no winds and the weather getting hot. The bottom line in such conditions is – is there a safety issue? Since there was none, the matches had to be played “as is”.

RLC upset favourites RasGas...
Before the start of the match RasGas seemed overwhelmed by the slightly wet ground conditions. This is where they probably got psyched and into a mindset of disadvantage. Probably some overconfidence also did its part, considering their opposition. RLC won the toss and had no compunction into putting RasGas in to bat. RasGas started disastrously and in no time had lost five wickets with only 16 runs on the board. From here it was downhill and they could only rig up a total of 86. Only Adnan gave some resistance with 24 runs. Amir Khan made 20. Inojan of RLC took 4 wickets which also earned him the man-of-match award. Masood Moin also took three wickets. Requiring less than a run-a-ball, RLC started sedately. When they were coasting along suddenly, they took a cue from their RasGas cousins, overconfidence overwhelmed them and they lost their way a little. From 54 for 2 they went to 57 for 6 in the 10th & 11th overs giving a ray of hope to RasGas. There was some panic in the RLC ranks but a little common sense prevailed and with two sixes in the 12th over from Amit followed by one more in the next over, they overtook the RasGas score by the end of the 13th over after having lost 6 wickets.

QP Gas Operations beat Nakilat...
QP Gas Operations won the toss and put their opponents in. Playing steady, Nakilat could only gather 82 runs against the steady bowling of Gas Operations. Sumesh took 3 wickets. Seeing the low total, Gas Operations were in an upbeat and overconfident mood. Soon they lost their two main batsmen, Jotish Pillai and Sumesh, by the fifth over, out to irresponsible shots and caught in the deep. The panic button was pressed. However, the age and experience of Musharaf prevailed over the youth and exuberance of the younger players. Playing steadily, punishing the bad balls, taking no risks he took QP Gas Operations to the victory line, and also the man-of-the-match award for his undefeated 39 runs. Nakilat, playing for the first time in Dukhan, didn’t manage their prime bowlers well and became handicapped in the death overs for want of a good bowler. They were in the run till the 11th over. But they have played well for a first appearance. Chandra took 3 wickets.

Amwaj Catering keep up their undefeated run – beat QAFAC...
Amwaj had a cakewalk against their opponents. QAFAC, having won the toss batted first. They had no answers to the steady and accurate Amwaj bowling. There were two maidens in the first three overs with two wickets down, and another wicket down in the next over, with the total at 7. They were soon in tatters and were all out in 14.1 overs for 49 runs. Man-of-Match Shagun Patel and Kabir took three wickets each. Amwaj, played very slowly, not facing a total of challenge, and crossed the opponents total in the 13th over, for the loss of 4 wickets. Kabir, made 23. A team which has performed well in previous tourna0ments, QAFAC just struggled to reach the quarters. Its players are ageing and the team seems to have lost its firepower. In front of the Amwaj team, with an average age of around 25, QAFAC was lost. Maybe, time to bring in some fresh blood for QAFAC.

Dukhan Operations overcome QP Offshore...
In the fourth quarter-finals the local team won the toss and elected to bat. They lost their captain Arif early but could not force the pace. They lost wickets midway in an effort to up the scoring rate. Their star player Rizwan, pulled a hamstring while taking his first run and tried to continue with a runner. However, the injury hampered his movement and it was only time before he mishit a shot to be caught. Parab made a steady 20 and Mustafa made 22. There was some panic in this match also as in the previous ones, when a few wickets fell, but Mustafa played steadily to take his team to a fighting total of 88. Chasing a moderate score, QP Offshore were always in the required run-rate window. But they were losing wickets steadily. Zaman Khan captured four wickets in his three overs at the start of the innings. He was ably supported by Patel who tool two excellent running catches in the deep long on area, and followed it up with two more later on. Bowling towards the death overs, Parab also captured three wickets and also won the Man-of-the-match. Only two very difficult catches were dropped in the match. But the wicket to watch was that of Manoj, the main hitter of QP Offshore, who was clean bowled by an express delivery from Deepak Zagade who took 3 wickets. It was a sight to see the leg stump cart wheeling to a distance of about 10 yards. The batsman, on his part was dazed, and wondered what had happened.

Thus the quarter finals were something like four quarters of the Final, in bits and pieces. All scores below 90. All matches finished in the 13th or 14th over. A Coincidence ? No great batting efforts. Very little excitement. The teams that lost, have themselves to blame for getting themselves into tangles and not able to come out. In spite of senior players with experience, teams have failed to think with common sense. Emotional aggressive game was not required and was the downfall of the losing teams.

The semi finals line-up will be between QP Gas operations and RLC at 13:00 hrs. The second match will be at 15:00 between the local Dukhan Operations and the fancied Amwaj. This second match could be a prelude to the finals between two of the stronger teams - Dukhan Operations and the newcomer, young legs, Amwaj. The eagerly awaited finals would be on Saturday at 13:00 hrs. - S.S.Narayanan.