Prince Abdul-Aziz Bin Nasser RCA Saturday Premier League Trophy 2021
REGC Triumph to be Crowned Champions of Prince Abdul-Aziz Bin Nasser RCA Saturday Premier League organized by Riyadh Cricket Association (RCA).
Riyadh Elite Game Changers clinch the Prince Abdul-Aziz Bin Nasser RCA Saturday Premier League 2021 beating Lahore Sultans by 13 runs in the finals. In the most awaited Finals of the season organized by RCA between Riyadh Elite Game Changers vs Lahore Sultans at RCA complex Ground no 5, Lahore Sultans won the Toss and Invited REGC to bat first to take advantage of the stormy weather and as they have successfully chased in semifinals. REGC have their strategy well planned and were also looking to bat first at the big stage and their openers vice-captain Kannan Gopi 36(19) and Senior player Kashif Mirza 72(32) started off in a blazing fashion scoring 79 in 6 overs in the powerplay. Kashif then continued scoring at will with REGC skipper Hisham Shaikh and both living up to the reputations of the finest timer and Strokeplay batsmen in RCA Circuit scored boundaries and sixes at will and took the Lahore bowling line up to task rotating strikes and stealing doubles and triples at ease.
Kashif was going well but lack of concentration and a mishit on long on caused him his wicket. Hisham continued his blistering batting along with the much-experienced Riyas Chukkan who came off fresh from an unbeaten cracking century in the SACF tournament final. They kept the scoreboard ticking and a sudden mishap in running caused Riyas to return to the pavilion due to a direct hit. Riyas scored a quick 39 off 17. Fahad Muhammed aka “Pandya” then joined Hisham and kept the runs flowing. Hisham, while accelerating lost the plot and was dismissed on 63 off 30 balls. Trying to accelerate the scoring and achieved the Target above 250 to gain a psychological advantage REGC batsmen started accelerating the paddles and wickets fell at regular intervals but the final pair of Salahuddin and Shahzaib ensured REGC reached a massive target of 260 in 20 overs.
Lahore Sultans as usual started off their batting in a thrilling fashion scoring 96 runs in the 6 overs of the power play but lost their two top-order batsman Rana Pervaiz who scored 14 runs whereas Manzoor Shah scored 31 off 15 balls in the hands of Riyas Chukkan who’s smart bowling variations in the power play got the much respite and needed breakthrough. Amir Butt Lahore Sultan Hero of the semifinals was in sublime form and was scoring runs at will was the biggest threat for REGC as he was taking the game away from them along with Umair Malik as they complied 130/2 in 8 overs. REGC is known for keeping their composure under pressure changing their strategy and bringing their most experienced campaigner Mohammed Azim against the wind who dismissed the dangerous-looking Umair Malik 20(9) on the 2nd ball of his spell and fetched REGC the entire match as Azim scalped 3 quick wickets in his quota of 4 overs and Varun Saravanan the youngest 15 Over lad applied pressure on another end by bowling tight line and length. Amir butt succumbed to the added pressure and was eventually run out as a result of extraordinary fielding effort from Junaid Hussain and Kannan. Varun Sarvanan and Azimooddin bowled one of the tightest middles over the spell of the tournament and took the game away from Lahore Sultans. Varun aged 16, bowled beautifully giving away just 31 runs in his 4 overs and getting a wicket. It was a herculean effort from both Varun and Azimooddin who brought back the match in flavors of REGC when Amir butt who scored 69 off 26 and Umair Salam who scored 65 off 35 were going in full flow. Shahzaib and Hisham provided the finishing touches both grabbing one wicket each and, in the end, REGC won comfortably by 13 runs.
Mr. Nasir Abbasi (Sr. Vice-President -RCA) expressed a vote of thanks to all the teams and congratulated both teams for making the final so entertaining for the crowds, also expressed that a new innovative way of this tournament was to showcase and bring forward the hidden talent in RCA various leagues.
Mr. Nadeem Babar (CEO- RCA) in the vote of thanks express gratitude towards Patron in Chief HHH Dr. General Prince Abdul-Aziz Bin Nasser Bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud, Chairman Mr. Mohammed Anwar, President Tariq Jawed, Sr Vice -President Nasir Abbasi and Ashiq Mughal and Entire executive committee and management for providing such opportunities to youngsters to showcase their talents and was very satisfied with the quality of cricket played bringing fresh young talent.
RCA & REGC head coach and ICC level 3 Global elite high-performance cricket coach and former coach of Saudi Arabia national team Mohammed Azimooddin express his views and thank RCA Committee and management for this innovative tournament which brought various talents among various leagues to play together as a unit and congratulated Lahore sultans for setting a good fight in finals and also expresses his views about REGC Team for their domination in the entire tournament and about the High-Performance Academy culture which ensure entire team And Individual development.
Man of the match was awarded to Azimooddin Karajagi for a match-turning spell of taking 3 wickets in a matter of 4 overs.
Below are the awards for the RCA Saturday league that were distributed by the RCA officials, CEO Mr. Nadeem Babar & Senior Vice President Mr. Nasir Abbasi:
- CHAMPIONSHIP – Riyadh Elite Game Changers – REGC
- Man of the match Final – Mohammed Azimooddin (REGC)
- Maximum MVP player of the Tournament – Hisham Shaikh (REGC)
- Best Wicket Keeper of Tournament – Kannan Gopi (REGC)
- Best Batsmen – Usman Khalid (Muree Warriors)
- Best All-Rounder of Tournament – Shakeel Sadiq (Riyadh Blues)
- Best Youth Player of the tournament – Varun Saravanan (REGC)
- Best Young Talent of Tournament U16 – Raiyan Khan (REGC)
- Man of the match Semifinals – Hisham Shaikh (REGC)
- Man of the Match Semifinals – Ameer Butt (Lahore Sultans)
- Best Bowler – Yasir Ghafoor (Lahore Sultans)
