India beat Sri Lanka, UAE sweeps New Zealand Masters


India celebrated a resounding 31-run win over Sri Lanka by scoring 74 agaist 43 of UAE in the open group match here today. India has retained the second position in the points table with 6 out of 7 points. In this match, India’s all-rounder Aries managed to dismiss the Sri Lankans 4 times while scoring 16 runs, Daivik (15 runs and 2 wickets), Dhanush (15 runs) and Suraj (4 runs and 3 wickets) helped India celebrate a big victory over Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka’s Shewon Fonesk (11 runs and 3 wickets), Kolitha (20 runs and 1 wicket) and Rumon Pereira (12 runs) could perform well. India’s first pair of Dhanush and Daivik scored 31 runs in 4 overs, the second pair of Vijay and Afroz scored 21 runs. India’s third pair of Namsheed and Girish put up a disappointing performance with only 2 runs on the board after which the fourth pair of Suraj and Aries scored 20 runs and managed to post 74 runs on the board.

The first pair of Sri Lanka’s Shewon Fonesk and Andy Simon could score 11 runs (Indians were dismissed three times), the second pair of Rumon P and Kamal Kuruppu could score 21 runs, the pair of Chaminda and Isuru scored minus 17 runs (Indians dismissed these players 6 times (minus 5 runs each wicket)) while the last pair of Kolitha and Dilsara batted hard and scored 28 runs. In this match, India scored 6 out of 7 points with 3 wins and 3 out of four pairs (more runs) while Sri Lanka got 1 point from the last pair’s run difference. In indoor cricket each pair has to bat 4 overs while each player (including the wicket keeper) has to bowl 2 overs.

The Indian Indoor Sports Foundation (IISF) is organizing the New Zealand-Asia Cup Indoor Cricket Tournament in Bangalore with the approval of the World Indoor Cricket Federation (WICF) at the XLR8 Indoor Sports Arena, Bangalore, Karnataka. Along with the host India, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, UAE and Singapore have participated in this tournament. Open group and Masters (40+) group teams have participated in this tournament.

In the Masters (40+) group, UAE swept to a 33-run victory over experienced New Zealand 121-88. In this match, the performance of Guy Coleman (14 runs), Drew Holmes (14 runs), Lawrence Watson (17 runs, 1 wicket) from New Zealand faced a big impact due to lack of support from others. UAE’s Khalid Hussain (17 runs and 2 wickets), Meet Dalal (26 runs and 1 wicket), Tharindu Mendes (26 runs) and Rajesh G. (18 runs and 1 wicket) on the strength of a strong performance by UAE, they defeated New Zealand.

In the other open group match, New Zealand thrashed Singapore by 150-(-3). UAE thrashed India Development 131-17. New Zealand beat UAE 110-66. Singapore beat India Development 111-62. Sri Lanka defeated India Development 94-(-9) and in the last match New Zealand again defeated India with a narrow margin 77-71.

In the other Masters group match, India defeated India Development 120-24. New Zealand beat India 92-60. While UAE celebrated a 104-53 victory over India Development.