197/6 (20.0)
CR : 9.85
200/6 (20.0)
CR : 10.00
Multan Region won by 3 runs š
Player of the Match
Aamer Yamin
1/2924(6)
MUL won by 3 runs
1:45 AM IST, 1:15 PM local time: After a bazillion twists and turns, in a match which felt no less than a rollercoaster ride, Multan Region have come out on top. They beat the defending champions by 3 runs and register their first win of the tournament.
It won't be wrong to say that for the large part of the game, they seemed behind in the contest. But then, sometimes it is about hanging in there and fighting till your last breath. That is exactly what Imam and his men did tonight. Aamer Yamin has been the hero. He bowled the difficult overs towards the end and ensured that the batters could not put him away. The scorecard will tell you that he picked 1/29 off his 4 overs, but his contribution was far more important than what those numbers suggest.
Don't forget Arafat Minhas, who delivered a tight spell 4-over spell of 2/23 to pull things back after Lahore Region Blues had scored 90 runs in the first 8 overs. Or Moheer Saeed who bowled an impressive 19th over which also accounted for the wicket of Umar Siddique. Mohammad Naeem too did a fine job with 0/21 off his 3 overs. These spinners helped to make up for the overs of Hasan Hafeez, who had been pummelled for 21 off the only over he bowled.
The Blues were the favourites to win even after the spinners pulled things back in the middle overs, thanks to the partnership between Siddique and Razzaq. While the former played a sumptuous innings of 91, leading the charge from the offset, the latter's start was rather sedate. Razzaq came on to bat when the team had lost a couple of wickets in quick succession. He took some time to get his eye in and then exploded like a dynamite. He smashed Siraj Uddin for 28 runs in the 17th over to put his team in the driver's seat. Alas, neither could stay till the very end and Lahore Region Blues ended up short.
Earlier, Multan recovered from an iffy powerplay to notch-up 200/6 on the board. They lost their top 3 in the first 6 overs itself and despite an extra life for Bismillah Khan, who was bowled on off a no-ball by Mohammad Rizwan Jr., were scoring at a sub-optimal pace until the rain arrived. Post the 16 minute pause in play, the batters switched gears. Mohammad Shahzad led the way with some clean ball-striking on the course of a laudable half-century. The last 7 overs of the innings produced 100 runs. The last 3 fetched 53. Perhaps, that was the difference.
It won't be wrong to say that for the large part of the game, they seemed behind in the contest. But then, sometimes it is about hanging in there and fighting till your last breath. That is exactly what Imam and his men did tonight. Aamer Yamin has been the hero. He bowled the difficult overs towards the end and ensured that the batters could not put him away. The scorecard will tell you that he picked 1/29 off his 4 overs, but his contribution was far more important than what those numbers suggest.
Don't forget Arafat Minhas, who delivered a tight spell 4-over spell of 2/23 to pull things back after Lahore Region Blues had scored 90 runs in the first 8 overs. Or Moheer Saeed who bowled an impressive 19th over which also accounted for the wicket of Umar Siddique. Mohammad Naeem too did a fine job with 0/21 off his 3 overs. These spinners helped to make up for the overs of Hasan Hafeez, who had been pummelled for 21 off the only over he bowled.
The Blues were the favourites to win even after the spinners pulled things back in the middle overs, thanks to the partnership between Siddique and Razzaq. While the former played a sumptuous innings of 91, leading the charge from the offset, the latter's start was rather sedate. Razzaq came on to bat when the team had lost a couple of wickets in quick succession. He took some time to get his eye in and then exploded like a dynamite. He smashed Siraj Uddin for 28 runs in the 17th over to put his team in the driver's seat. Alas, neither could stay till the very end and Lahore Region Blues ended up short.
Earlier, Multan recovered from an iffy powerplay to notch-up 200/6 on the board. They lost their top 3 in the first 6 overs itself and despite an extra life for Bismillah Khan, who was bowled on off a no-ball by Mohammad Rizwan Jr., were scoring at a sub-optimal pace until the rain arrived. Post the 16 minute pause in play, the batters switched gears. Mohammad Shahzad led the way with some clean ball-striking on the course of a laudable half-century. The last 7 overs of the innings produced 100 runs. The last 3 fetched 53. Perhaps, that was the difference.
Time for the post-match presentations.
Player of the Match: Aamer Yamin
Aamer Yamin (Player of the Match): "Yes it feels good when you win matches for Multan. I have worked a lot on my bowling. Allegations were that I do not bowl well in death. I worked in that area and did well.
( Plans to execute the yorkers) Yes as the conditions demand. The dew was there and a few full tosses came. But I am glad to get the yorkers right.
(What are the talks with the youngsters?) Yes we talk with the youngsters about where to bowl and what to bowl. It gets tough to bowl in dew but they have done well. A good match overall.
( Plans to execute the yorkers) Yes as the conditions demand. The dew was there and a few full tosses came. But I am glad to get the yorkers right.
(What are the talks with the youngsters?) Yes we talk with the youngsters about where to bowl and what to bowl. It gets tough to bowl in dew but they have done well. A good match overall.
Saad Nasim (Lahore Region Blues captain): "(Where did you lose it?) In the last two overs, we gave away 43 runs. That was not ideal. We wanted to restrict them between 160-180.We were in the match till the end. Umar Siddique and Ali Razzaq put up a good partnership. That 17th over that produced 28 runs was fantastic.Till the last over we were in the contest.
(Positives?) We are a young team. We don't have big names. Rizwan bowled well. Ali Razzaq batted well.
(Where to improve?) We need to work on slower balls and death bowling. Also we need to make sure that we don't concede too many wides."
(Positives?) We are a young team. We don't have big names. Rizwan bowled well. Ali Razzaq batted well.
(Where to improve?) We need to work on slower balls and death bowling. Also we need to make sure that we don't concede too many wides."
Imam-ul-Haq (Multan Region Captain): "(On back-to-back last ball finishes) Multan is making the tournament successful. We have made a few errors I know but there are always areas to improve. I think the boys have responded well after the last defeat. They are taking their chances whenever they got anything. But we have to do a lot better in bowling and fielding.
(On the fielding as a team) I remember the Champions cup. We had issues regarding fielding. It depends more on the individuals. Coaches are saying that they will have an extra fielding session tomorrow.
(Are you happy as a captain?) Yes I am happy. The batting relied a lot on me and Naeem but now the rest of the batters are stepping up. There's always a plan but then there are situations which are not scripted. We played the gamble and it paid off."
(On the fielding as a team) I remember the Champions cup. We had issues regarding fielding. It depends more on the individuals. Coaches are saying that they will have an extra fielding session tomorrow.
(Are you happy as a captain?) Yes I am happy. The batting relied a lot on me and Naeem but now the rest of the batters are stepping up. There's always a plan but then there are situations which are not scripted. We played the gamble and it paid off."
A topsy-turvy ride that ended up being a cliffhanger ā that is what this match was. We hope you enjoyed the coverage as much as we did bringing it to you. The commentators were Darpan Tikiya and Saptak Sanyal. The scorer was Ghanendra Singh Thakur. Keep following Crickxo for more cricketing action from around the globe. See you soon!