25/01/2024
Came the day when two forces locked their horns against each other, the day that we all were desperately waiting for. The Final Match of Karachi Super League - KSL Season 2 was played Between Crictown Crew and Future Star Cricket Club-FSCC at RLCA Gulberg. The match was expected to be a close game since both sides were evenly matched and were in red hot form but only one could've gone on to be crowned "Champions".
To start things off, Future stars won the toss and invited Cric town to bat first. It turned out to be a good decision as the wicket played on the slower side at night and Future stars started well by picking up 3 quick wickets inside the Powerplay. Ahmed and Hamza tried to steady the ship but after hitting a couple of boundries, hamza got caught on the boundary, leaving Crictown in a spot of bother. Then Zohaib and Ahmed took the game deep where Sualeh came in with a blistering cameo of 25 runs in 11 balls, taking Cric Towns score to a respectable 135.
In reply, Future stars started cautiously and didn't lose any wickets in the first 4 overs but Usama got the breakthrough his team desperately needed. Ahmed came into the game and got another wicket in the 7th over to make things more interesting and intense for the batters. Abdul Rafay and Zohaib got a wicket each making things more difficult for the batting side as their score was 59-4 inside 9 overs.
In reply, Future stars started a counter attack where uzair anees and Saad Akthar tried to take the game away from Cric town but in reply, two quick wickets from Usama Saleem and Zohaib Maqsood got Cric town back in the driving seat. Things started to settle down for future stars with four wickets in hand but a stunning catch by Sharjeel at mid wicket brought back the energy in Cric town that had vanished. With 2 wickets remaining and 13 needed in the last 2 overs, a misfield in the 19th over resulted in 6 runs for Future stars as they required only 2 runs from the final over. As if things couldn't be any more intense, lack of communication resulted in a run out, leaving future stars with only 1 wicket and 1 run for victory.
Then on the 3rd ball of the over, Abdullah swiftly guided the ball from his pads down to square leg to secure the win for his team.
They say cricket is a game which is not about scoring more runs or taking more wickets, but it's a game about pressure. You absorb it, you thrive, you give into it, you lose. Well played Future Stars, hope we can level the playing field someday in another final.
