Uvais Ahmed, a 23-year-old right-handed batsman, powered his way to a 32-ball century at the fag end of the innings which helped his team, Carpediem India reach 400/5 in 40 overs. The total was enough to help them score a 118-run convincing victory over a young Players Cricket Academy in the 46th Lala Raghubir Singh Hot Weather Cricket Tournament.
“I play according to requirements of the team. Did that today as well. When I had come into bat, there were only 10 overs left. The team needed as many runs as possible in the last 10 overs,” said the batsman, who hails from Amroha in Uttar Pradesh but practices in Moradabad where he generally stays.
He hit nine sixes and 10 fours in his 35-ball unbeaten 112.
But before he launched his attack, Carpediem India were given a strong platform by opener and wicketkeeper-batsman Shubham Rohilla (126 off 83) and one-down Shantanu (102 off 83).
Both joined hands at 15/1 and added 202 in 23.3 overs for the second wicket.
“As such there was no plan to play a long innings. Once the eye set in, I used the outfield well. I was getting full value of the shots. I got all the runs when I timed the ball. I had complete focus while playing a long innings. Luckily, things went in my favour,” said the 25-year-old Rohilla, who is posted with the Indian Navy in Visakhapatnam and is spending his 40-day break in Delhi, playing Hot Weather tournaments.
Rohilla hit five sixes and 17 fours in his 126 while Shantanu smashed two sixes and 12 boundaries in his 102.
Shantanu, who hails from Meerut and practices there, has been representing Carpediem India for quite some time now.
“We had lost one wicket early, so we were trying to build a partnership and thankfully managed to do it. Shubham played very well. Luckily, I also scored a hundred. The cameo that Uvais played in the last 10 overs, it improved our team’s position a lot in the match,” added Shantanu, who plays club-level cricket in Delhi and Bengal.
With two back-to-back wickets putting them at 240/3, and just over 10 overs left, it was left to Uvais to press on the accelerator.
“We had lost two wickets quickly, but the team was doing well. Our idea was to score as many runs as possible in the last 10 overs. I hit the ball where I could and thankfully it came off,” added Uvais.
In response, Players Cricket Academy were restricted to 282/8 in 40 overs with Shreshth Yadav scoring 112 off 86 balls (6x6s, 9x4s) for them.
