Defenders of Peace v Courageous Challengers

The final 4 Phase of the KCL24 kicked off with play off 1 between the Defenders and Challengers to determine which side will be the first to book their place in the final. The two top teams have played excellent cricket to reach this stage, for one of them, they are possibly 2 wins away from lifting the title for this season. An important toss was won by Tahir Kang who elected to bat first, putting full faith in his side to defend a total of any sorts.

Munaf on song is a delightful player to watch, particularly on his off-side stroke play! Big match occasion brought out the best of Munaf as he was seeing the ball well and creaming it to the boundary with exquisite cuts and drives, text book cricket shots against pace. With the bludgeoner Hafiz Marfoud taking his time to get in terms with the track, eventually both Munaf (49 off 37) and Marfoud (37 off 28) camped in and were punishing the Defenders. The Challengers were looking set for a big total at the halfway stage with 90-0 on the board, and two well set batsmen. Captain Haseeb Ahmed of the Defenders had an excellent season up to this point with his decision making, but now he too was in a serious spot of bother as he needed a breakthrough desperately!

The change of ends at the 10 over point proved to be a change of fate too for the Defenders. Medium pacer Daniyal Latif was employed at the 11th over mark, and Daniyal’s choice or not offering pace to the batsmen to work with proved pivotal as Munaf finally fell just before his 50. Sensing an opening, Haseeb was now ringing in the changes. Fareed Ahmed with the change of ends produced the perfect delivery to remove one of the most dangerous batters of the season as Tahir Kang had to depart early!

At 103-3 in 12 overs, the Challengers still had plenty of time and wickets to post a strong total on the back of the excellent opening partnership, but the unnecessary choice to pull the trigger early proved to be their downfall as wickets were now tumbling one after the other and that too without any hassle to the scorers! Daniyal Latif, the man who started it all finished with figures of 3-16 in his 4 overs, a spell that totally turned the game on its head for the Challengers who were now 127-7 and in danger of falling well short of what they would ideally like. Nasar Baloch, the latest product of the Baloch dynasty gave his team a strong finish none the less with some important blows in his 14* off 6 balls to push the score to a reasonable 145 by the end of the 20 overs. Not the score they should have, but the score they would take considering they have the bowlers who fight to the very end with whatever total they have to work with!

Requiring 7.5 an over, the Defenders had some serious players in form who have contributed well throughout to get their side in this play off. The return of Naghman was the thorn in their way as the silver haired fox was switched on to get his side early wickets, both Hadi and Atta Butt who are dangerous on their day departed early. Rizwan Baloch was producing his heatand was too hot to handle for Saqib and Sarfaraz. The Defenders were reeling 35-4, and the Challengers could sense another monumental victory whilst defending a low total!

Irfan Ahmed has seen these situations too many times throughout his long, illustrious career. Unperturbed, and with the support of the exciting talent Hamza Iqbal, both players waited for their opportunities to shift pressure back on the bowling side with boundaries. Whilst Irfan assessed the situation and run rate, Iqbal was cutting loose against the medium pacers with his fast hands and swatting an impactful 38 off 18 balls which included 3 thunderous sixes.

A 70 run partnership between Irfan (52 off 41) and Hamza had the Defenders in cruise control and on their way to a final’s spot, but a brief moment of controversy added a slight twist in the tail as Hamza was adjudged caught out by the narrowest of margins on the boundary. At 106-5, the job was still a lot more doable, but the wicket of Irfan by off the bowling of Ehsan at 108-6 brought the nerves back for the Defenders. The Challengers cannot claim that they didn’t have the chance to put this game to bed as simple run out opportunities and sitter catches were squandered! Eventually, Hafiz Zafarullah and Azmat Sheikh (30* off 17) saw this game through for the Defenders and booked their spot in the final of the KCL 2024!

An extremely dramatic play off 1 between the two sides had so many twists and turns, eventually it could be argued that the spell of Daniyal Latif was the one that defined the outcome of the match, a match in which the Challengers were running away with it until Daniyal opened the gate. The Challengers will get another opportunity when they face the winner of the eliminator between the Warriors and the Royals, that too promises to be an absolute cracker as the KCL slowly draws towards its conclusion for the year 2024!