Both sides officially playing their first game of the season, the two new captains Haseeb Ahmed of the Defenders won the toss and inserted Salman Jajja’s Radiant Stars into the field.

A conservative start for the Defenders resulted in the early wicket of Hadi off the bowling of Muneeb. The second opener for the Defenders looked to put the E pressure back on the Stars, racing to a quick fire 27 off 18 which included 3 sixes and a four. With the run rate now touching 10 per over, Muneeb was in the wickets column again striking with the wicket of Sarfaraz and the score at 40-2 in 4.2 overs. Irfan’s entry at the crease always sets off the red alert sirens for the bowling side, and he was indeed in the mood to punish as both Irfan and Azmat pushed the score maintaining that 10 runs per over rate.

At 65-3 in the 7th over, the Defenders looked to keep the foot on the gas with Irfan continuing to punish with a well struck 35 off 21 balls. However, the batting suffered regular setbacks around the 10-13 over phase of the game with the wickets of the well set Irfan, and the removals of Hafiz Zafar, Haseeb and Fareed, as Yasir Ahmed (4-28) was all over the Defenders batters like a rash picking up 3 wickets in this excellent spell. This left the defenders in a very fragile situation of being 109-7 with 35 balls still remaining in the innings and potentially being bowled out for a below par total.

A tough situation always brings out the best in those willing to fight, and it seemed like the electrifying pacer Hamza Iqbal was in the mood to establish his status as a genuine all-rounder with a stellar knock 63* off 32 balls (197 strike rate), which included 7 fours and 2 sixes! He was supported well by Muhammad Adain as the pair put on a 71 run 8th wicket partnership til the end of the first innings. The Stars who had the Defenders by the ropes at 109-7 missed their opportunity and were now facing a daunting total of 181 to win.

The opening bowlers for the Defenders (Fareed and Hamza) were bang on the money from the word go as both bowlers made early inroads. At 13-3 in the 5th over, the Stars were facing an uphill task having lost 3 wickets in the powerplay and required a miracle to get out of this predicament. Captain Salman did his best to hang in scoring a watchful 25, but wickets falling all around him especially to Fareed (3-15) and Hamza (3-8) did not allow any meaningful partnership to settle and take a hold of this game for the chasing side.

At 7-84 in 14 overs, Captain Haseeb was afforded the opportunity to give some of his fringe bowlers an opportunity to have a bowl, and the positive mood in the defenders camp resulted in wickets a piece for Ata Mubashar, Labeeb and one for Haseeb too. The Stars were shot out for a paltry 99, having lost by a huge deficit of 81 runs in their opening game.

A convincing all round team performance by the Defenders who have responded well to the leadership of Haseeb in his first match back as captain in the KCL after a lengthy period off. The Radiant Stars should not be too disheartened as they had demonstrated the ability to get a grasp of the game and nearly had it in their control, they will learn from this experience and will hopefully grow stronger moving forward.