Moghul lift Twenty 20 Cricket Cup

SANJAY GOEL
Correspondent | Friday March 11, 2011 00:00

GCC hosted a Twenty20 tournament, which started in the first week of February and attracted 20 local teams.

Winning the toss and electing to bat, Moghul opened their innings with star performers Faizal Rana, the GCC Twenty20 Batsman of the Year 2010, and his left-handed partner Feroz Gaswala. Faisal hit the second ball of the innings to the stands for six, marking the beginning of an exciting evening.

The two batsmen went about their task professionally. The first six overs of power play fetched 45 runs without any loss of wickets.

Mall Motors were down, but not out of the game. In the mid overs, they fought back brilliantly by removing Feroz (13), Avez Saiyed (6) and Asim Siddiqui (0) and Amir Shaukat (0) to reduce Moghul to 78/4. However, Faisal Rana (74 off 53 balls) and a late order burst by Hasan (21*) and Zain Abbasi (16*) took the Moghul score to 155 after 20 overs, including a 15-run penalty awarded for a slow over-rate by Mall Motors.

GCC introduced a TV umpire and were also measuring the speed of the bowlers, a new development.  The match was screened live on a giant screen at the cricket ground. Chasing a total of 155 by die-hard Mall Motors, a power-packed display was on the cards.

Tariq Shamim and Naveed Shaukat opened the Mall Motors' innings against the pace attack of Afzal Patel, the GCC Twenty20 Bowler of the Year 2010 as his bowling speed was captured for the first time - 130 kms/hour.

Mall Motors amazed the crowd with their batting skills. Although they lost Tariq early with the score on 23, Imran Pathan and Naveed Shaukat scored 49 runs in five overs as the score reached 72/1 in nine overs. In the 11th over, a run out decision was referred to the TV umpire, as the excitement reached its climax amongst the teams and its supporters.

Mall Motors lost their third wicket after 92 runs when their star all-rounder Billal Shaikh joined Imran Pathan.The two were threatening to take the match away from Moghul, but a big hit from Billal landed straight into the hands of Afzal Patel at deep mid-wicket fence, who made no mistake. Mall Motors were 115/4 in the 16th over.Rahil Shaikh, the man of the match for Mall Motors in the semi-finals, joined Imran.

A towering six by left-handed Rahil closed the gap, as now 21 runs were required off 18 balls.

Rahil hurried for a Zain Abbasi delivery and lost his stumps. Zain, bowling at 120kms/hr, bowled a tight 18th over, while Afzal Patel conceded eight off the penultimate over. With only eight runs to win off the last over, all Mall Motors' batsmen needed was a boundary. However, brilliant bowling by Zain forced bizarre running between the wickets resulting in two run outs and with only three needed off the last ball to win the game. Mall Motors managed only one run, falling short by one run.

Imran Pathan was named Man of the Tournament, Faisal Rana the Best Batsman and Afzal Patel the Best Bowler.As curtains fell on the cricket series, the GCC goes to polls tomorrow to elect a new executive committee.