17 July 2022
Type of Match: Pickwick Cup T20
Venue: Embrach
Timings: 12:30pm Start
Coming into the last league game of their T20 campaign, Nomads were looking to continue their excellent run and winning streak in the Pickwick T20 tournament.
After winning the toss , captain Faheem opted to bat first on a dry day at the Nomads home ground with conditions expected to favour strokeplay. The opening pair of Faheem and Aswin started brightly with Faheem opening his account with a boundary of the second ball faced and Aswin rotating strike. But a good over saw Faheem facing a few dots as he played himself, But what followed from then on it was a master class in T20 batting. As he flayed the ball to all parts of the ground with classic drives , text book cuts, devastating pulls and majestic lofted drives, Faheem dealt mostly in boundaries. Aswin at the other end continued his good form with timely boundaries and strike rotation, before he was dismissed in the 10th over for a well made 36 off 25 in an opening stand of 132.
Ex captain Azeem joined his brother in the middle but was dismissed for 6 after striking a boundary. With the score at 154 for 2 in 12 overs, Hassan Ahmed joined Faheem to forge a partnership that lasted till the end of the innings. As Hassan picked the gaps for singles while playing himself in, Faheem reached his 100 in 46 balls. From then on the pair rampaged their way to the end of the innings with scintillating strokeplay and devastating impact. Making the most of the remaining 8 overs, the pair notched an unbeaten partnership of 139 runs filled with boundaries and sixes, with Hassan finishing on 37 off 20 and Faheem an exceptional 201 off 73 closing the innings at 293/2 in 20 overs.
With a mammoth total to overhaul, the Zug openers Jithin and Ankush managed to get a couple of boundaries away in the first couple of overs as the Nomads new ball bowlers Sheraz and Safi sought rhythm. However, the in-form Sheraz, dealt a double blow in the 3rd over as he dismissed both openers in quick succession – both caught by Abid, who made his return to the Nomads lineup. As Safi finished his spell, Sheraz struck another double blow in his very next over dismissing Vaibhav and Naveen caught behind and at slip as the Nomads tore in to the middle order.
At the other end, Abid Butt replaced Safi and found immediate success in his return game as he uprooted Ranjith’s stumps off his second ball. With the score at 27/5 in 6 overs, Zug desperately needed a partnership to put up a respectable total. As Sheraz finished his spell, Thrani joined the attack with his wily off spinners. In the 9th over, Abid struck the third double blow of the match in a single over trapping Navanshu LBW and clean bowling Saurabh to leave Zug reeling at 40 for 7. Rahul Swami who came in at 7 showed resistance and struck 5 boundaries on his way to 25 but was quickly running out of partners. With Azeem opening the gates to the tail with the run out of Navdeep in the 10th and Rahul finally dismissed by Tharani in the 12th over the Nomads only had one wicket to get with the total at 67. Tharani dismissed a stubborn Amit in the 14th over as he finished with 2/16 in his 4 overs with the best economy of the four bowlers used.
Overall an excellent outing for Nomads with bat and ball. A spectacular 201 carrying the bat from the captain, supported by Aswin and Hassan followed by a devastating bowling performance from Sheraz – 4 wickets, Abid -3 and Tharani -2 ably supported by a tight fielding unit.
Full scorecard: https://www.crichq.com/matches/1042889/1st_innings