In what was one-way traffic from the word go, Romania outmuscled Bulgaria by seven wickets in the final of Sofia T20, on Sunday, 27 June. Romania won the four-nation tournament – Greece and Serbia were the other teams – organised to celebrate 20 years of the Bulgarian Cricket Federation.
Between them, Vasu Saini and Sami Ullah took 7-22 to restrict Bulgaria to 115/9. The tourists then chased down the target in 10.2 overs.
Prakash Mishra won the toss and decided to bat. Hristo Lakov and Sulaiman Ali added 30 for the opening wicket – the highest partnership of the innings – before the former fell prey to Saini.
Sulaiman made 21 off 19, and smashed one of the five sixes of the Bulgarian innings. Aravinda De Silva’s dismissal reduced them to 64/4. Kevin D’Souza’s quickfire 20, coupled with the handy contribution from Jacob Albin, dragged Bulgaria to 115/9.
Saini (4-0-12-4) was the most successful Romanian bowler. However, Sami (4-1-10-3) got the specialists, and was later named Player of the Match.
Taranjeet Singh and Ramesh Satheesan got Romania off a rollicking start, adding 62 in just four overs. Taranjeet amassed 39 in 16 balls with 6 fours and 2 sixes. Ramesh, meanwhile, made 22 runs off 11 deliveries.
None of the bowlers was spared. Even when both openers fell within four balls, the next set of batters kept going, hitting at will. Gohar Manan took the sting out of the contest with his 14-ball 27 as Romania chased down the target in just 10.2 overs.
Brief scores: Bulgaria 115/9 in 20 overs (Sulaiman Ali 21; Vasu Saini 4-12) lost to Romania 119/3 in 10.2 overs (Taranjeet Singh 39; Rohan Patel 1-13) by 7 wickets with 58 balls to spare. Player of the Match: Sami Ullah. Bulgaria won the Sofia T20 Cup.