Match 13/10/2024

Game 1 - Knights vs. Gladiators (Round 2)

Round 2 of the League Play started with a bang!!  The top two seeded teams met in Round 2 with the Gladiators holding on to the top seed after remaining undefeated in Round 1 and the Knights coming after winning their two last games against the Titans and Warriors.  Both squads came into the match with almost their full rosters; the only change on the Gladiators was Ghawas Ali replacing Fazil Ali.

Toss: Gladiators elected to field first

The Knights decided to open with one of their most experienced and one of their most youngest batsmen sending in Farrukh Kazmi and Mehdi Abbas Rizvi while the Gladiators opted to go with a star of their own, Jaffar Sayed.  The openers started cautiously, playing low risk game, and managed to score 4 runs in the opening over.  Jatin Sharma, the league's leading wicket taker, started the second over and, similar to the first over, conceeded 4 runs.  At the end of the two overs, the Knights were 8 runs for no loss.  

The 3rd over saw Ghawas Ali brought in by the Gladiators.  The Best Bowler award winner from last season didn't disappoint and took two quick wickets of Mehdi Abbas and Mohammad Sadiq in successive balls to put a major dent in Knights' batting lineup.  Ammar Zaidi, the current leading scorer, then joined Farrukh at the crease but that partnership didn't last as Farrukh got run out 4 balls later.  Nihal Jamal bowling the 4th over kept a tight lid on scoring and allowed only 2 runs to limit the Knights to 12 runs after 4 overs.  The 5th over was delivered by the Iftikhar Abbas (Hani) and Ammar took advantage of the opportunity by hitting a 6 off his first delivery to take some pressure off the batsmen.  The 5th over saw the Knights scoring 14 runs, taking the score to 26 for 3 after 5 overs. 

Nihal then returned to bowl his 2nd over and once again he kept it tidy by only allowing 3 runs.  The Knights were below par for runs scored; 29 for 3 after 6 overs.  The 7th over was bowled by Zohair Badami and he kept the Knights to singles and doubles only allowing only 7 runs in the process.  Muhammad Ali came into to bowl the 8th/Final over and was hit for a boundry (4 runs) on his very first bowl by Ammar.  2 deliveries later though, Muhammad Ali got his revenge and got the priced wicket of Ammar who was caught by Zohair.  With only two balls left in their inning, the Knights sent in Zeeshan Zaidi and he was caught by Iftikhar at mid-wicket as he attempted to go for a boundry.  Shujath then came in to finish the batting for Knights and added 1 run on the last delivery to take the score to 43.  Muhammad Abbas and Ali Rajani did not bat and Hyder Hussain (retired/recalled) scored 5 runs and remained not out.  Ammar, as he has throughout this young season, led the Knights with 24 runs off 18 balls hitting one 6 and one 4 in his inning. 

The target was set to 44 runs for the Gladiators to win their 4th straight win in a row.

The Gladiators' Inning...

Chasing a fairly modest score of 44, the Gladiators decided to open with one of their more seasoned veteran Salman Rajani and one of the two newest players to join ETCL, Raza Hasani while Farrukh handed the ball to Shujath (Shoaib) to bowl the 1st over.  After a relatively uneventful 1st over that saw the Gladiators' opening pair score 7 runs for no loss of wicket and the target reduced to 36 in 7 overs, Farrukh decided to bring in his ace into bowling and Ammar didn't disappoint.  After bowling the 1st bowl as wide, Ammar came back with a scorcher of a delivery knocking the stumps behind Raza Hasani to get the first break through.  Jatin Sharma replaced Raza and played the rest of Ammar's over with extreme caution.  Ammar ended his first over by allowing only a single run and taking Raza's wicket.  

Mehdi Abbas was brought into the action to bowl the 3rd over and on his 3rd delivery sent Jatin back to the players' bench by removing his stumps.  Muhammad Ali then came in to replace Jatin and added 2 more runs on the remaining 3 deliveries.  The Gladiators were starting to feel the pressure having scored 12 runs after 3 overs at a loss of 2 wickets.  Mohammad Sadiq then called into action to bowl the 4th over and he kept it tidy by not allowing any boundaries.  The Gladiators did manage to score 7 runs off Sadiq's over to take the score to 19 for 2 at the end of 4th over.

Farrukh then decided to bring in another youngster, Mohammad Abbas Mehdi, into action.  The batting side made one change as well, replacing Salman Rajani with Iftikhar Abbas Rizvi (Hani).  At the halfway point of 5 over, the game took a turn from predictable and boring to suddently exciting and nerve wrecking for both teams.  

The Turning Point....

On Mohammad Abbas's 4 ball, Muhammad Ali thick edged behind the wickets and decided to go for a run.  Zeeshan Zaidi, the winner of best fielder award last season, leaped back and from a good 15 feet out, hits the wickets directly sending the bails flying before the runner for Iftikhar Abbas (Hani) could reach the crease safely.  An easy decision for the leg umpire.  The revenge tour continued for Zeeshan, who got Iftikhar's wicket after Iftikhar caught him earlier during Knights' batting.  Like Zeeshan, Hani failed to score any runs.  

Gentlemen, we have a game....

Nihal Jamal joined Muhammad Ali at the crease and on the other hand Mohammad Abbas pitched 3 dot balls to finish his over.  At the end of the 5th over, the Gladiators were 24 for a loss of 3 wickets.  The Gladiators were still in pretty good shape needing just 20 more runs in the remaining 4 overs with still plenty of batting to come (Zohair Badami, Jaffar Sayed, and Salman Rajani).

Farrukh then decided to bring himself in to bowl the 6th over and after Muhammad Ali scored 4 runs on his first two balls, got the breakthrough that the Knights were desparately looking for.  Muhammad Ali, while attempting to square cut Farrukh's 4th ball, bottom edged the ball and Zeeshan made no mistake in taking a well-judged catch to send Muhammad Ali back.  

Zohair Badami then joined Nihal at the crease and saw the last 2 balls safely by adding 3 more runs.  At the end of the 6th over, the Gladiators were 31 for 4, needing 13 more runs off the last 12 balls...still very much doable with Jaffar waiting in the wings.

Ammar Zaidi then brought back to bowl his 2nd over and he did not disappoint.  On his 2nd delivery, his pace was too much, and he sent the wickets flying behind Zohair.  Jaffar then replaced Zohair and 2 deliveries later joined Zohair back at the pavilion after Jaffar mis-judged his another blazing delivery and the bails went flying once again.  Reeling under the pressure, the Gladiators sent in Ghawas Ali, and though the Gladiators didn't suffer anymore loss of wicket(s), they also failed to add any more runs to their chase.   Ammar finished his 2 overs with a brilliant spell of 2 overs bowled and taking 3 wickets while conceeding a measly 1 run.  What a superb display of bowling and, for sure, I had the best seat in the house to watch it as a wicket-keeper!!

Farrukh decided to have Ali Rajani bowl the final over and the youngster, with all the pressure on him, held on to his nerves.  Needing 13 off 6 balls, Nihal scored 1 run off the very first ball.  While facing Ghawas Ali, Ali Rajani, 5 consecutive wide balls.  The chase was down to 7 runs off the final 5 balls but the drama was not over yet.  On the 3rd delivery, another wide that went flying behind the wickets and was tracked down by Zeeshan, the subsequent attempts to run out either Nihal or Ghawas resulted in over throws.  Having already secured 3 runs, Nihal decided to come back for a 4th run and the risk didn't pay off quite well.  Ali Rajani threw the ball back to Zeeshan on the wicket-keeping end, and he took the bails off before Nihal could reach his crease.  The pressure clearly switched to Gladiators and the Knights could smell the impossible at this stage.

Salman Rajani, then returned to the crease, needing 4 off 4 balls but the youngster Rajani, decided to bowl the best 4 balls he could.  After 3 dot balls, the last ball needed a 4 to continue Gladiators' perfect season...anything less meant an unbelievable and an impossible win for the Knights.  On the last delivery, Salman Rajani came out to hit a boundary but missed it and Zeeshan made no mistake to run him out as he made no attempt to return to his crease.  Match over!!  Game Over!!  Perfection Over!!

Result: Knights won by 3 Runs

Interesting Fact:  No batsmen from Gladiators managed to reach double-digits as the young bowlers from the Knights kept them in check.

Man of the Match: Ammar Zaidi (Scored 24 Runs off 18 balls and bowled 2  brilliant overs conceding 1 run and taking 3 wickets).  Honourable Mention: The other Zaidi, Zeeshan Zaidi, was heavily involved in getting 4 primary assists (sorry for using hockey terrm), in 1 Direct Run Out (Hani), 2 Indirect Run Outs (Nihal Jamal and Salman Rajani), and 1 Caught Behind (Muhammad Ali).  

Kudos to Team Knights!!  With 3 youngsters in their lineup (Mehdi Abbas Rizvi, Ali Rajani, and Mohmmad Abbas Mehdi), the Knights went up against a more seasoned line up and came through with flying colors.