Yankee Royals (YR) vs Pak Qalandars (PQ) CCL Morning Division. |
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| Common Wealth Cricket League Admin (ccladmin) | |
| 05/06/2018 | |
Steady breeze and cloudy atmosphere greeted the day as YR took on PQ in the morning division match of CCL. YR, who were undefeated in this tournament so far, won the toss and asked PQ to bat first with a view to utilize the pitch conditions and restrict PQ to a low score. Led by Anwer Hossain, who is having a great season thus far, YR opened their bowling with a hostile spell of fast bowling by Mulin Syed (Tamim) and Asif Mahmud. YR broke through very quickly with 2 wickets in the first two overs, putting PQ on the backfoot. PQ captain Sikander Zaman then looked to bring some stability to the innings by stitching a partnership with the number 4 batsman Shoodi Ahmed. Shoodi, particularly looked in great touch as he smashed a good ball by Tamim to the cover boundary and looked set for a big one. His innings was cut short by a great piece of fielding by Sudarshan Ramarajan of YR, who took a low tumbling catch at square leg off Asif Mahmud. By the end of the top notch 8 over spell by Asif and Tamim, PQ were in deep trouble at 34-5. Anwer then moved on to his next line of bowlers; Wahidur Rahman, Sudarshan, Roktim Rahman. They responded very well by picking up 4 wickets among them; pushing PQ further down at 58-9. The bowlers were brilliantly supported by fielders and wicket keeper Shameer Mohammed did an excellent job with the gloves taking 2 stunning catches. Just as the innings seemed to be ending without any further drama, Sajid Ali got a reprieve as a miscommunication between the YR fielders led to a dropped catch. The PQ batsmen took full toll of this as they stitched a 73 run partnership among them, a turnaround of sorts. The PQ innings finally folded for 131 when Sajid Ali got done by a middle stump yorker by Sudarshan; setting a target of 132 on a tricky pitch. The PQ camp was upbeat as they got a very good score on an uneven pitch and that too after losing 9 wickets for a very low score. The YR innings did not begin very well with Shameer getting bowled by a good delivery by Ghulam in the second over. However, Hassan and Wahidur steadied the ship for YR as they stitched a 55 run partnership, before Wahidur was dismissed for a brilliant 35 at a strike rate of 120. But as it is said, one wicket opens the door for another, YR lost their in form batsman Salman Ahmed as he missed a straight one and got bowled by Shani Ifthkar. Asif Mahmud and Hassan then stitched a partnership of 33 together, taking YR very close to a win. Asif, struck a monstrous six over square leg and everything seemed perfect in the YR camp. However, there was one last twist in the tale: YR lost their next 5 wickets for just 28 runs, thanks to some poor shots. Ghulam pulled out his best spell and finished with 3 wickets in this duration. This left YR and PQ in for a nail biting finish as the untested tail of YR had to do the job of getting the last two runs. However, Sajid Ali bowled 2 wides to the left handed batsman Chirag Thakkar and the match ended in an anticlimax. A match, in which YR should not have had to chase no more than 60-70, ended up with a close finish. Nevertheless, it was great lesson for both teams on how to handle pressure and how to go about in this extremely competitive tournament. |
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