12/01/2014
The PTCC's First Defeat in the Second Match of 2014
Match Report and Analysis: M. Zubair Khan
The PTCC had made their entry into the new year carrying over the long chain of victories from the departed year when they won a brilliant match on January 4. However, this chain got broken with the very next match on the following Saturday, January 11, when at the hands of the toughest team so far, Night Rider, they had to meet the defeat. The Night Riders play regular hard ball cricket and one of their players, Abdul Wahid plays in Saudi national cricket team. Recently he had been playing in Malaysia and Dubai form KSA.
It was a good match though -full of thrill and suspense sustained well till the end.
Neither the coin, the first wishful factor for the PTCC, flipped into the team's favor, as the side asked by the captain's emissary Naveed Awan faced the dust which was ominous, nor the Night Riders proved themselves professional enough who considering the weather conditions conducive to ball could wisely and graciously invite the PTCC to bat. So, the PTCC, contrary to their wishes, had to bowel first.
Soon after a bit of deliberations and consultations with the senior team members the PTCC captain relied on the old strategy of launching attack and started flexing his muscles to throw the first over.
The first ball came on the pitch and off it went flying over the boundary which betrayed the intent of Night Rider very well. The second ball met the same fate, and the practice went intermittently on and on. At the end of the third over their score was 56.
It looked like the PTCC was going to have a record total of their career to chase, but sooner the situation got into a bit control when two wickets of Night Riders, who were wreaking havoc, fortunately fell down.
Naveed Awan and Tanvir Abbasi bowled well and got wickets as well.
The feared formidable target got quite diminished and it was 214 at the end of the last ball of the sixteenth over. The PTCC were not much disappointed to see the target 215 to chase for the victory as this figure was achieved by themselves in most matches. Even in the last match they had given a target of 218.
The PTCC's start was equally bombastic. Ghulam Mujtaba and Omar Kayani wisely and at the same time violently pushed the score forward and forward. Soon Omar's stumps got rumbled with a nasty yorker penetrating through his leg side. One down Amman picked the buck with the same momentum. He hit the two consecutive sixes, but gave his wicket early on. Sandeed, the most relied on, also got out pretty soon. Though the score was going ahead with a desirable pace and rate, but falling of the crucial wickets were matter of concern. Captain Abdul Qadeer also came back on duck. Zubair Khan got run out after playing a couple of balls. The only hope Ghulam Mujatba was still staying at the crease and 42 runs was the requirement in the last 3 overs. It was not difficult at all, but he got out on the first ball of the penultimate over. With the fall of his wicket the hopes for the victory got dashed down. The last wicket also fell in the same over. On 180 the whole team perished when two overs were still remaining.
The hero of the match was none else than Ghulam Mujtaba who made 80 runs. He also won the reward of monthly fee by hitting more than 5 sixes.
Thus was the story of the PTCC's defeat in the match # 2 of the year 2014.
Muhammad Zubair Khan
PTCC admin
