The Conqueror’s slightly hampered with injury due to their gruelling semi-final against the Challengers won the toss and elected to bat first again.

Munaf and Bilal once again provided their side with a good start, particularly Munaf, who displayed high-quality strokes all around the park, especially against the express pace of Rizwan Baloch. A 53 run opening stand in the powerplay had the Royals worried, but the breakthrough provided by the experienced Zeeshan Naseer was timely post powerplay as Bilal Muhammad ended his tournament with the bat (scoring 250+ runs this season). Shahzad couldn’t quite get going in this match as the Royal’s spin trio of Zeeshan, Shahid and Usman were looking to grapple the momentum towards their side, but Munaf and Abid were still looking to assert their authority on the match as both players added a brilliant 55 run partnership in the middle overs, particularly Abid who showed once again that he is indeed one of the best players of spin!

With the score at 110-2 in 13 overs, the Conquerors were well set to reach another 180+ score, but a crucial 14th over by captain Usman Tahir in which he successfully removed the well set Munaf (62 off 40) and Abid (27 off 15), and now asking the remaining batsmen from the MC to get themselves in and push on to a good total. Usman Tahir ended his game changing spell with figures of 3-36, and the Royal’s bowlers closed out well, only allowing a further 55 runs off 42 balls with the loss of 6 wickets

The Conquerors posted a reasonable score of 165-8, but the feeling in the camp was that they were slightly under par, especially looking at breaching 180+ at one point.

Requiring 8.5 runs per over, the Royals didn’t get off to the ideal start, having lost Ali Raza early in the first over. Farhan was slightly subdued in his usual approach by putting a price on his wicket, especially watchful against Mohsaf, who bowled excellently in the powerplay. Mohsaf’s good bowling was rewarded with the big wicket of Zeeshan Naseer in the 5th over with the score now at 44-2. Farhan and Fawad now had to be careful as the loss of a wicket now could open the door for the Conquerors to claw into the lower middle order.

Having seen off the early threats, Farhan finally began to cut loose with the assured head of Fawad Bajwa guiding him in a strong 3rd wicket partnership. Although Atta would have liked the prized wicket of Fawad once again, the left handed middle order maestro had brought his best for the big stage, as his feet movement and quick hands were fully in tandem dealing with any threats posed to his side. Atta finally got the best of Farhan, who scored a valuable 50 off 41 balls for his side and left with the score at 94-3 in 11 overs. The job was very much done with the Royals and requiring 70 in the last 54 balls of the innings.

Fawad once again guided Umair Saleem to the crease, and the pair gradually picked up the pace towards the final total in 17.3 overs as Fawad stood strong with a brilliant 46* off 33 balls, and Umair contributing with 27* off 19. A very well executed and well paced chase to ensure that the Victorious Royals are crowned champions of the 2023 KCL!

Fawad’s not out performance was considered the important, clutch performance in a big final and was rewarded with the MOTM award. Thus came to an end a wonderfully competitive season of the Khuddam Cricket league. The Royals who possessed a good mixture of aggression, technical excellence, and intellectual decision-making at crucial moments deservedly ended the season as champions. The Conquerors have played with heart and passion throughout the season, producing 5 star T20 matches for the league and the audience throughout their campaign, commiserations to them for not being able to cross the final hurdle. Until next time, the lights are out for this year’s KCL, but rest assured, the league will be back and bigger than ever next year!

Scorecard summary is as follows;

 

Man of the match;