An ExxonMobil Guyana GSL title ‘‘for Guyanese everywhere’’

“I’m really grateful to every Guyanese, wherever they are; it’s purely for them.”
Those were the sentiments expressed by a visibly emotional Imran Tahir, captain of the Guyana Amazon Warriors (GAW), after his team romped to a thrilling 32-run victory that would secure them their first ExxonMobil Guyana Global Super League (GSL) T20 title.

In the height of the emotions on Friday night after dethroning the Rangpur Riders at the Guyana National Stadium, Providence, Tahir described the local franchise’s win as a ‘beautiful thing’.
Tahir expressed, “It’s a beautiful thing to think about it, you know, when you win such a big game. They beat us twice last year and now, so I think we had to win this one, and it was a perfect game to win.”
Quizzed about their performance in this year’s tournament, the GAW skipper was elated that his team was able to pull it all together in the final dance.
“Look, I know we didn’t have a good start this year, but I had to believe in the team we had, and it’s just about how they turn up, and I think today it was a perfect show. That’s what we were looking for, something over 170, 18 runs. To be honest with you, I think we should have finished with 200, but I think it was two or three good overs from them and then a little bit of relaxed batting from us in the 16th and 17th overs, where we only picked up 10-11 runs,” he explained.

Tahir added, “Again, when you have a team like that, you have to have belief that they’re going to come right on the day, especially the batting department, which has been struggling. I’m just so glad that they came out on a perfect day.”
The skipper did admit that the ExxonMobil Guyana GSL win would be a major boost to morale and performance, less than a month away from the Republic Bank Caribbean Premier League (CPL).
“Going forward to CPL, to be honest with you, it’s a big boost to the franchise and the players. You know, we have some local players; I’m sure they’ve been watching that, and they’ll be very proud to be part of this franchise like I am,” Tahir noted.
“It’s been an honour, absolutely, leading the franchise where fans from all over the world support you wherever you go, and that, I think, is a big positive for us and a big favour from the crowd. I’m just really grateful to them, and I’m sure they deserve more than what we deserve,” Tahir later said about their win, dedicating it to the Guyanese populace.
Meanwhile, similar sentiments of dedicating the victory to the Guyanese people also came from the final’s player of the match, Rahmanullah Gurbaz.
“Congratulations to all the Guyanese people around the world; I think it’s an ice moment for them as well, not only for us,” the opening batsman shared.
Regarding his thoughts on winning the GSL this time around, Gurbaz described it as ‘special’.
“Always feel great. Last CPL we were in the final, but unfortunately, we lost. It was a really bad feeling for me when you come from that far and go with the runner-up; that always feels uncomfortable, but for me, this trophy was more than something else. It came with some struggling performances; I was struggling with my bat, and at the end I did something for my team to win the trophy for them. That’s something very special for me,” the Afghanistan international told media operatives.