Sunday, December 18, 2022 was a day to remember for cricket enthusiasts in Abuja and its environs, who thronged the MKO Abiola Stadium to watch one of the biggest games in the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) this year.
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The setting was the Package B of the stadium with archrivals, Millennium Indians taking on CCA Tigers in an exciting CCA-OLAM Agri T20 Blast final match that had spectators on the edge of their seats for the most part of the game.

The day started with the third-place match between CCA Panthers and the Millennium Challengers, a game won by the CCA Panthers. Four teams featured in the competition, which began on November 27 and ended at the weekend after eight matches. The participating teams were CCA Panthers, CCA Tigers, Millennium Challengers and the Millennium Indians.

In the third place match, CCA Panthers won the toss and opted to bat first. At the end of 10 overs, they batted 94 runs for four wickets.

In reply, Millennium Challengers, who came to chase 94 runs and needed 95 runs to win, could only get 64 runs for three wickets at the expiration of 10 overs. Thus, CCA Panthers won by 30 runs.

The final game was full of fireworks as Millennium Indians, who won the toss and chose to bat first, in 20 overs, batted 122 runs for nine Wickets.
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The CCA Tigers, who needed 123 runs to win, outscored the Millennium Indians at 123 runs for six wickets at 19.3 overs. Speaking after the game, CCA Tigers’ Captain, Saad Tariq Butt, said attributed his side’s victory to discipline, unity and determination.

“We stayed together throughout the tournament with common focus and determination. At the beginning, it wasn’t easy and I commend the Indian Millennium for putting up a good fight,” Tariq-Butt said.

Also speaking on the game, Millennium Challengers’ Captain, Madan Sharmar, acknowledged that CCA Tigers deserved their victory.
He said, “we fought but the score was not enough. Our bowlers did a good job, restricting them but they were able to have their way. I congratulate the team. We’ll have to plan for next season and we’ll take it to another level.”

At the end of competition, outstanding players were rewarded for their efforts with Best Batter, Abhishek Patel, getting N15, 000.

All the other winners, including Adnan Akbar (Best Bowler), Arun Kumar (Best Fielder) and Tushar Gupta (Best Wicket Keeper) got N15, 000 each, while Player of the Tournament, Millennium Indians’ Abhishek Patel, got N25, 000.

The champions, CCA Tigers, were rewarded with N500, 000. One of the highpoints of the day was the baton exchange from the outgone Cricket Club Abuja (CCA) leadership, headed by Mr. Reji George, to the new executive committee led by Mr. Oludare Aimola.

Other members of the new executive committee are Saad Tariq Butt (vice president, Michael Egiethua (general secretary/PRO, Nithin John (financial secretary), Amit Sebastian (captain), Talabi Obafemi (vice captain), Amir Shahzad (administrative officer). The outgoing president automatically became an ex-officio member.
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