MUZAFFARABAD: Rawalakot Hawks successfully defended their 175 runs total to beat the home side Muzaffarabad Tigers by one run in a Kashmir Premier League (KPL) thriller on late Monday.
Muhammad Wasim’s Jr. hattrick went in vain as Tigers lost the plot in the end to hand a close and exciting victory to Rawalakot Hawks who are still to be beaten in the tournament.
Rawalakot Hawks won the toss and elected to bat first against the home side. Mohammad Wasim Jr. sent Bismillah Khan, Kashif Ali and Umar Amin back towards the pavilion to claim his first hattrick in KPL 2020, the same being the first hattrick in the history of KPL as well. Hussain Talat joined Ahmad Shehzad in the middle and both played sensibly to produce an under-pressure partnership of 76 runs for the 4th wicket. Shehzad scored a fifty off 33 balls while Hussain Talat went on to score unbeaten 69 off 45 balls. A 23-ball 40 of Muhammad Imran Randhawa who smashed the ball for maximums for fun, helped Hawks post 175 on the board. Muhammad Wasim and Arshad Iqbal got three and two scalps respectively.
When Tigers came to chase Hawks’ total down, Zaman Khan started the proceedings with an early breakthrough of Inzamam Ul Haq of Muzaffarabad Tigers. Sohaib Maqsood and Zeeshan Ashraf helped Tigers cross 50 runs mark without any more loss while Mohammad Hafeez scored a 31-ball 44 to keep the game in balance.
The game remained in the hands of both teams in the whole second inning while in the last over, both sides tried their best to lose the game as Muhammad Imran Randhawa bowled two wide balls and a full toss, giving away easy runs while Tigers’ batsmen failed to play quality strokes required to get 16 in the last over.
Ahmad Shehzad saved golden runs in the field before he caught Sohail Tanvir in the deep on the last ball of the match when Tigers required two off the last ball. Zaman Khan got three wickets while Asif Afridi and Muhammad Imran Randhawa bowled two players each. Hussain Talat won the man-of-the-match award due to his sensible and heroic knock of 69.