Courageous Challengers v Trustworthy Knights

 

The August Sunday blast of the KCL was to feature 3 stellar fixtures at Alexandra Park, all 3 highly crucial in defining the group table and potential play off spots. In the morning fixture, the Knights really had nothing much to play for besides the restoration of pride having forfeited any realistic chance of a play off spot in their previous fixture. The Challengers however needed to take 2 points in order to keep their campaign alive and get into the top 4 positions. Waseem Ahmed of the Knights opted to bat first having won the toss to get the show on the road!

An early dismissal of Rehan by Rizwan Baloch with the score at 16-1 was the only setback that the Knights were going to suffer for some time, as the 2nd wicket partnership of Harawal and Fawad Bajwa was going to cause serious headaches for the Challenger’s skipper Tahir Kang. Harawal coming fresh off his excellent knock of 160 against Glamorgan 2s was in the mood of displaying all of his skill and class with the bat, supported well by the ever reliable Fawad Bajwa (47 off 27) who both played excellent shots all around the park with a 136 run partnership off 62 balls, broken in the 13th over by Ehsan with the score at 152-2. With a more than great foundation set, the Knights continued to tee off to maximise the total in the last 7 overs. Harawal ended his onslaught having scored 86 off 43 (12 fours and 4 sixes), reaffirming his status as one of the finest keeper+batsmen in the competition.

The double wicket blow by Ehsan removing Harawal and Fawad with the score at 153-3 enabled the two dashing twins Waseem and Shahzad to also entertain the viewers with some lusty hits, as Shahzad was in ‘no nonsense’ mood with his 49 off 20 balls (4 fours and 4 sixes) whilst his captain brother Waseem also had a free swing to the fences with a contribution of 33 off 17! The Knights finished their assault with a daunting total of 245 in their 20 overs, asking the Challengers to really challenge themselves in order to keep their hopes alive in their year’s competition!

As seen many times, totals of this kind can either bring the best or the worst out of a team looking to chase it. In the case of the Challengers, it was going to be the former as they had their sights on 2 points from ball 1 as Munaf announced that the chase is ON with a six first ball of the second innings! Setting the tone early with a 14 run first over, followed up with a thumping 23 run second over, the Challangers were on the move bringing down the required rate of 12.5 very early into the game! Munaf’s had played one shot too many having fallen in the 3rd over off the bowling of Rehan with the score at 37-1, but this only lead to the former KCL chairman Adeel Ahmed to once again lay down the law with 16 runs scored off the first 3 legitimate deliveries faced by him! There really was no stopping the Challengers as Hafiz Marfoud and Adeel were both tearing into the Knight’s bowlers within the powerplay and continuing their belligerent stroke-play with the score at 103-1 in 7 overs!

The required rate had now dropped to around 10 an over due to the excellent ball striking by Adeel and Marfoud, and the Knights really needed to respond fast! Waseem looked for a breakthrough by employing Musawir Dogar, and the change worked as Musawir prized out the two set batsmen Marfoud (69 off 31 balls) and Adeel (36 off 23) with the score at 136-3 by the 11th over. With the task a lot more easier, the Challengers batters to come knew that they just had to keep swinging and not allowing any pressure to build with dot balls. Faizanullah also wanted to get a move on contributing 16 runs off 6 balls, but it was Captain Kang who made sure that he’s going to be the one to see this through for his side. Tahir has fast built a reputation of being a demolisher of spin bowling with his long handle reach, this was definitely on display today as Tahir brought his A game with an emphatic score of 71* off 24 balls (5 fours and 7 humongous sixes!) at a strike rate of 295! This may well have been the most destructive innings of length this season, and one that really mattered where his side needed it the most! The Knights did try to keep themselves in the game with 34 runs required off 24 balls and 4 wickets to take, the wicket of Tahir could well have made things very interesting, but Tahir seeing the ball like a beach ball decided to end the match with a brutal 34 run over 17th over!

The score of 245 chased down with 18 balls to spare and 4 wickets in hand! Nrr also improved, a job very well done by the Challengers! Unfortunately for the Knights, this season has been one to forget! Having the services of some fine cricketers at their disposal, the side will know that they have not combined well as a side at times where they could have secured the 2 points earlier in the group fixtures where things could have been in their favour. Time to reflect and ponder, they are still a fantastic set of players who will comeback strong next year!