Muzamil Dogar’s Defenders side were in good spirits having been clinical in their chase recently against the strikers. They were once again asked to chase by the Royals captain on a sunny evening at Cheam CC, a track that usually stays true throughout the course of a match.

Farhan read the placid nature of the track early and was looking to cash in with big hits down the ground against the opening seam pair of Taha and Usama. Racing to 20 off 11 (2 fours and 2 sixes), Farhan holed out in the 3rd over with Haseeb taking a brilliant running catch covering a lot of ground at long on. Umair Saleem and Ali Raza looked to push the score for their side but both fell within the powerplay, not making the most of the start they got on a lovely batting strip.

With the score at 3-55 in 6 overs, Fawad Bajwa was in the middle sensing the need to consolidate even though the runs were flowing for his side. Fawad and Farukh smartly built a partnership against the challenge posed to them by Yasir and Haseeb, the two experienced off spinners. A 47 run partnership between the batsmen was broken in the 12th over with the score at 104-4. Fawad who was still at the crease had now seen enough of the ball, and assessing the situation decided to put the foot on the pedal as he knew that a score of 180+ was the need knowing the confidence the Defenders would have in their chasing ability.

Fawad calculative in his approach targeted bowlers, especially Haseeb who he took a keen liking too by taking 26 runs in his last 7 balls of the spell with the help of Usman. Moving briskly with his captain Usman Tahir, the Royals were now playing some confident strokes. Usman Tahir (33 off 25) displayed a masterclass of ramp shots picking up 3 boundaries on this shot, whilst Fawad played a great hand in producing a total of 82 runs off 50 balls (164 strike rate). Some decent overs at the death for the Defenders enabled them to peg back the Royals to 187, a score they would take considering the Royals looked set to breach the 200 runs mark at one point.

All eyes were on Azmat and Yasir who had another job on their hands, this time to keep their side within the competition. The pair were stopped early this time as the experienced Waseeq broke the partnership with the first wicket falling for 37 in the 5th over. The big wicket of Muzamil soon followed as Waseeq delivered another big blow in the 7th over and the Defenders were now in big trouble. Yasir continued to target the boundary, but the fall of wickets around him made things more and more difficult. Eventually Yasir (34 off 27) had to go with the score at 76-4 in 11 overs, with the Defenders needing 111 runs in 9 overs with 6 wickets remaining, a very difficult task ahead of them.

Excellent overs in between by Usman and Shahid (3-32) were the main reason why the Defenders struggled to build any momentum during their innings. Haseeb and Mansoor tried their hand at rescuing the chase, but it was all too much for them as the well oiled bowling unit of the Royals, and the smart bowling changes by their captain proved to be too much to handle for the defenders on this occasion, as they bowed out of the tournament with a 47 run loss.

There was no doubt that the class of Fawad Bajwa was on display today and he produced a stellar knock to ensure that his side enter the qualifiers with no hiccups. The deserved MOTM for his 82. The Defenders have fought well throughout their campaign and would rue the fact that they dropped some points in matches where they had dominated. An unfortunate ending but a commendable effort.

Scorecard summary is as follows:

Man of the match: