Game 1 - Knights vs. Titans
Knights won the toss and elected to bat. Knights' captain Farrukh, as he has throughout this young season, decided to open with his developing talent; this time with Rising Star from last season, Mehdi Abbas and Ali Rajani. After losing early wickets, the Knights were down 15-3 by the 3rd over. Another rising star from last season, Ali Zaidi, got wickets of both openers. After Faizan got his fellow Indian Shujath (Shoaib) out on a catch beautifully taken at log on by Syed Hassan Ali (subbing in for Shehzeeb Raza). Ammar Zaidi came in and added valuable runs and through his partnerships with Zeeshan and Hyder Hussain took to a respectful 41 before he lost his wicket to an another rising star, Hassan Qamber Ali. Hyder Hussain stayed on till the end and stretched the score to 58 runs without getting out. Zeeshan continued his trend from last year of getting run out while attempting suicidal runs. Sajjad Abbas and Ali Raza made the play to get him out this time.
Bowling wise, both Ali Zaidi and Sajjad Abbas got two wickets each while Hassan Qamber Ali and Faizan each got one wicket. Ali Zaidi had the best bowling figures from Titans. He bowled 1 over and got 2 wickets (Ali Rajani and Mehdi Abbas) while giving up only 5 runs...Excellent job, Ali Zaidi!!
In response, the Titans opened up with their more experienced duo of Kashif Syed and Ali Raza. Knights' version of Wasim Akram, known as Ammar Zaidi, opened the bowing for Knights and had the Titans under pressure from the word go. Titans' score at the end of the 1st over was only 4 runs. Mehdi Abbas then came in and continued his superb bowling. After not scoring on the first two balls of the 2nd over, Titans were feeling the pressure and on the 3rd delivery got the valuable wicket of Ali Raza. He went to play a rising delivery from Mehdi and ended up edging it. This time, Zeeshan got his revenge of getting run out by Ali Raza by taking a rising catch behind the wicket, sending Ali Raza back to the pavilion. Asad Jaffri came in but didn't fare well and lost his wicket to Mehdi without adding any runs to Titans' score. Mehdi Abbas was brilliant with his only over in the match; getting 2 wickets while conceding only 1 run...simply AWESOME!!
Titans probably had the best chance of doing some damage when Zeeshan Zaidi was brought in to bowl by Farrukh. Zeeshan, not necessarily known for his bowling skills, came in and kept it economical (1 over; 5 runs). At the end of the 3rd over, Titans were in a tough situation having scored only 11 runs and needing another 48 runs in the remaining 5 overs at a RRR of almost 10 runs an over. Mohammad Sadiq came in to deliver the 4th over and had two more wickets falling in his over (Kashif Syed run out by Sadiq after he left his crease early on the bowling end and Syed Hassan Ali; clean bowled by Sadiq). Titans were reeling at the end of the 4th over having scored 19 runs and lost 4 valuable wickets.
Faizan, playing a captain's inning, fought hard till the end but wickets kept falling on the other end. In the end, Knights' bowling attack came through as expected. The 2nd last over was bowled by Ammar Zaid and he gave up only 4 runs to kill any hopes of a come back by the Titans. The final over was delivered by another youngster, Mohammad Abbas Mehdi, and he got the last wicket of Hassan Qamber Ali (bowled by Mohammad Abbas).
Result: Knights won by 17 Runs
Man of the Match: Ammar Zaidi (Scored 15 Runs and bowled 2 overs while conceding only 7 runs). Hyder Hussain was also a strong candidate for MOM along with Mehdi Abbas (2 wickets for 1 run).
bLOGGER : Zeeshan Zaidi
Games 2 - Gladiators vs. Warriors
Warriors won the toss and elected to bat. Warriors decided to open up with Qamber Ali and Syed Hassan Ali while the Gladiators opened bowling with Zohair Badami. The opening batting pair scored 8 runs off the first 5 balls before Zohair got Qamber to thick edge on the final delivery of the 1st over and, Salman Rajani, while running back took a well judged catch to break the opening partnership. Syed Hassan Ali came in one down and Gladiators elected to send in one of their more experienced bowler in Nihal Jamal. Nihal kept it tidy and allowed only 2 runs (a single and a wide ball).
Jatin came in to bowl the 3rd over and kept it tidy by only allowing 4 runs. Warriors were reeling at the end of the that over having scored 15 runs and losing 2 wickets. Hani came in to bowl the 4th over and the action picked up. Just as he was getting ready to deliver the 1st ball, he saw Ehtisham leaving the crease early on the bowling end and took advantage of the situation to run him out. On the 3rd delivery, he got Kamran's wicket as he edged to the waiting hands of Gladiators' wicket-keeper, Muhammad Ali. 2 balls later, Hamail got run out on a direct hit from Jaffar. Qasim came in to replace Hamail and they managed to score valuable 8 runs on the last 3 deliveries.
After Jaffar bowled a tidy over by allowing 5 runs, Muhammad Ali came in to bowl 6th over for Gladiators and the Warriors took advantage of his less than perfect line/length to score 12 runs. Nihal then came back into the attack and finished off the remaining batting attack by first running out Alay on his own bowl and then clean bowled Javaid Naqvi to end Warriors' inning. The Warriors got all out for 46 by 6.5 overs. Qasim, playing a captain's inning played till the end and remained unbeaten at 15 off 12 balls.
Gladiators began the chase in a less than ideal way and lost early wickets of Azmat Mehdi (run out) and Salman Rajani (bowled by Hamail Abbas) and Fazil Ali (caught behind by Syed Hassan Ali off Hamail). Gladiators were down 3 wickets for 9 runs at the end of the 2nd over. Muhammad Ali and Jatin Sharma then steadied the ship and took the score to 30 before both got out to revive Warriors' hopes. Unfortunately, it was a little too late as Zohair Badami and Nihal scored the remaining 16 runs with 9 balls to spare.
Gladiators won by 3 Wickets
Man of the Match: Nihal Jamal (scored 6 runs off 3 balls and allowed 7 runs in 1.5 overs).