Please see below the report from the above game. Looks like it was a cracker!!
The Scottish Pakistani community celebrating 75 years of Pakistan’s Independence on Sunday the 14th of August had arranged a T20 as part of the days events. The two teams consisted of the Scottish Pakistanis and the Pakistani Pros. 24 talented players of Pakistani heritage had been assembled to play a T20 at Meikleriggs in Paisley, spectated by a large multicultural crowd.
We were anticipating an amazing game and we were not disappointed. The Scottish Pakistanis team, made up of West based local players, won the toss and elected to bat. The Pakistani Pros team and Scottish Pakistanis, took the field.
Imran Mughul opened the batting with Taimoor Ahmad, 6 runs coming of the first over. Qadeer Ahmed bowling his first ball, found the edge of Taimoor Ahmad who departed for 1 run caught by the wicket keeper Farhan Khan. Mughul was joined by left hander Saif Sajjad, his Clydesdale teammate. The loss of the early wicket only spurred on Mughul who launched a blistering attack in the next over hitting 16 runs. Mughul followed this up in the 5th over, bludgeoning 28 of the over, including 4 sixes with a number of the sixes well out of the ground. The scoring continued from Mughul’s bat with the score at 77 for 2 after the end of the power play after 6 overs had been played. Mughul reached his fifty in just 19 balls The Pakistani pros skipper Usman Saeed, had to control the scoring and introduced Adnan Mufti and Anwar Hafeez to the attack. Adnan Mufti and Anwar Hafeez slowed the scoring rate down but still not enough. The score after 10 overs was 112 and a massive total looked ominous. The introduction of, off spinner Rafay Khan made the desired impact with him picking up wickets and restricting the score. Khan continued his grip on the game by removing Mughul caught in the deep for a brilliant 115 in the 16th over with the score already slowing down to 148. Mughul had reached his 100 in 48 balls and completed his innings of 115 in 52 balls including 11 sixes and 8 fours. Unfortunately, the remaining batters could not complete the overs and the Scottish Pakistanis were all out in 18.3 overs for 162 with only Fazal Jawad (10) and skipper Haroon Tahir (13), the only other batters to reach double figures. Rafay Khan returned excellent figures of 5 for 17 in 4 overs, Tasawar Hussain 2.3 overs 3 for 15 and Qadeer Ahmad 3 overs 2 for 26.
The Pakistani Pros innings started with openers Muhaymen Majeed and Israr Hussain, with Majeed’s first scoring shot going over square leg and the trees for a six. The Scottish Pakistanis opening bowlers Akram Shakoor and Azeem Akbar were not letting the batters score as freely as Mughul had done so in the first innings. Majeed and Hussain put on 32 for the first wicket and Hussain departed in the 6th over. At the end of the 6th over and the power play, The Pakistani Pros team were on 37 runs, 40 behind the Scottish Pakistanis team at the same stage. The run rate was climbing and it was not as easy as it had looked for Mughul when he was batting. Majeed continued showing his array of T20 shots keeping the score going he received some support from skipper Usman Saeed (15) who shared a stand of 36. The score at 10 overs was 69 at 15 it was 98 . Majeed now joined at the crease by former UAE International Adnan Mufti, plundered 17 runs of the 16th over and then 20 of the 17th over. It came down to the last over with 10 runs required. Akram Shakoor was the bowler, who had bowled intelligently throughout, mixing up his pace and using variations , the first three balls were singles. Mufti then was run out on 17, the score on 156 , sharing a partnership with Majeed of 72. Two balls left, 7 runs required to win, the new batter was Tassawar Hussain, who managed a single, Majeed was facing the last ball with a six required to win the game. Majeed launched the last ball deep to mid on, was it going to carry? no, it had held up, it was looking like a catch, the fielder was going back and got his hands to it , only to parry it over the rope for a six. A win for the Pakistani Pros team on the last ball, it does not get anymore exciting than that. Muhaymen Majeed finished on 96 not out off 57 balls including 8 fours and 6 sixes, playing the first and last ball of the innings, just getting his team over the line.
The only bowler for the Scottish Pakistanis team who picked up more than one wicket was young leg spinner Shahan Raja, who claimed the wickets of two Pros , bowling 3 overs 2 for 25.
An excellent game with top performances from Imran Mughul 115, Rafay Khan 5 for 17 and Muhaymen Majeed 96 not out, Muhaymen Majeed chosen to be the player of the match for his match winning innings by the umpires Alex Dowdalls and Majid Haq.