Serious thinking would be required to find out why we came so close to lose a match in which the required run rate for our opponents was more than 10 runs per over.
The tournament was out of our hands so the Captain Wicky made a strategy on popular demand, to give proper chances to everyone. Rizwan, Adnan and Bilal are to be tried up the order. And Ahmed, Amir Bhai and Junaid Bhai will be tried out in bowling more regularly. More over Bilal would be tried in Wicket Keeping, which was not to be in the current match.
Since the tournament committee didn't arrive therefore, we started a friendly match of 16 overs with our opponents. We were to bat first, therefore Rizwan and Nisar opened the batting. Rizwan got out early while trying to drag a ball from outside his off stump towards leg side, only to put the ball up in the air for an easy catch on the on side. Adnan failed to impress while trying to clear the inner field. Bilal went in next and place a few balls for singles but missed a straight yorker and was out bowled. Sameer Bhai went in next and alongwith Nisar built a match saving partnership. Both batsmen scored their 50s in good time. Aided by sometimes lose deliveries, they maintained a healthy scoring rate of 8-9 runs per over.
The bowling team also lacked penetration as they kept on experimenting with slow spinners, which was ideal for Sameer Bhai especially, as he cut and pulled for boundaries and also a huge six between long on and square leg. A little late but a welcome change for the bowling team was when they brought in a fast medium bowler who saw 2 wickets in his first 2 deliveries and he got the wickets of both Sameer Bhai and Nisar.
This was the ideal platform for Wicky and Ahmed to go in and start hitting boundaries from the word go. Ahmed couldn't last long, but Wicky kept up the good work, with not only strong shots but also hard running between the wickets.
We set a target of 171 runs in 16 overs for our opponents, which was a very good target. The highlights of our batting were responsible innings from three of our main batsmen Nisar, Sameer Bhai and Waqar.
Our bowling started with Anees Bhai and Waqar, who bowled well but only too rarely. Some shabby keeping from Rizwan didn't help either. The batting team kept on scoring at a comfortable rate of 10 or more runs per over, without giving any chances. Amir Bhai was the first change and he bowled a good first over. Sameer Bhai came in from the other end and tried to control the scoring rate, but both were not able to find wickets.
By the 8th over the opening batsmen were so set that they were pulling almost every ball quite effectively. Almost all the bowlers tried after that, were hit for a considerable amount of runs. Till Bilal was brought in, in the 13th over. He bowled his slow loopy deliveries not giving any speed to utilize. The batsmen had to find the power within to hit boundaries and by the 13th over, they were so tired that they didn't have any power whatsoever. Hence they gave the first chance on Bilal's bowling as a catch went straight to Anees Bhai, but was dropped.
The things proceeded with some hard shots from the batsmen and good fielding from us on the boundaries under trying conditions. Then came the last over with 9 runs required from it. A gettable score seeing that the openers were still playing. After a little discussion, the ball was tossed to Nisar to keep it as slow as possible. Well due to five slow loopy deliveries and some excellent and presence of mind kind of work from both Nisar and Rizwan, they lost 4 wickets and required 5 runs from the last ball.
The match was definitely not over.
The Last Ball
Nisar comes in, bowls a slow loopy delivery outside the off stump, the batsman smashes it over the covers, the ball is going straight to Amir Bhai, every one has their hearts in their mouths, ooo he drops the catch, the batsmen are running, they need 4 runs to tie the match, the ball is going towards the boundary, Amir Bhai fields the ball and throws it straight to the bowler, the batsmen are completing the 3rd run, there is a fumble, the batsmen are running for the 4th now. Rizwan gathers the ball and crashes it into the wickets. And there is huge cry of achievement from Rizwan, announcing that we have won the match.
We win, we win by 1 run.
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
The good was keeping our nerves under control and fighting till the end. Sameer Bhai who scored a 50 and bowled 4 cheap overs. Nisar who scored a 50 and bowled a good last over.
The bad was a mini top order collapse and Rizwan's keeping from which he recovered quite well and just in time.
The ugly, this was not a tournament match and hence would have been ideal to improve our tournament record.
