Take 2 of the first Qualifier between the top two sides was set to take place at the LGCC home ground.

To avoid any doubt of bad light and the DLS method having to make decisions, it was agreed that the teams will play a T10 shoot out to determine which team will be heading straight to the final. A huge toss was won by the Royals captain Usman Tahir, who elected to bat first.

The Royals were on course early on to target 10 runs per over in their initial stages, with Farhan Ahmed threatening to cause serious damage with his 19 off 10 balls. Harris, Naghman, and Mohsaf were all in the wickets column early on with wickets in their first overs, but the Royals kept finding ways to make each over count for them with boundaries. Atta ul Babar, in particular, had arrived at the crease in a ‘terminator’ like mood dispatching his first 3 balls for 4 against the usually impressive Harris. Fawad Bajwa was also looking to entertain the audience with classical strokes around the park. The Conquerors were in big trouble with these two players looking in good touch.

With the score at 71-3 in 6 overs, the Royals were set to go hard in the last 24 balls of the innings with 7 wickets in hand. Rana was in amongst the action, having removed Fawad (14 off 9), and Captain Faizan Warraich contributed with 2 highly respectable overs of 2-17 (5 dot balls) in the context of a T10 With Harris and Rana closing out for the Conquerors, the Royal’s captain Usman also produced a small yet effective cameo of 14* off 7 balls to push the first innings total to 112-8. A good score for the Royals but the Conquerors would know that they could have restricted them better had they avoided the 18 extras handed to the opposition, which is far too much in the space of 60 balls.

Requiring 11 an over, the Conqueror’s decided to send in their tank (Harris Usman) to open alongside Bilal. The start was phenomenal as both Harris and Bilal scored 33 runs for the 1s wicket in 2.2 overs. Much to the Royal’s relief, both Bilal (14 off 9) and Harris (18 off 7) were removed in a space of 7 balls, leaving a lot to do for the remaining MC batsmen. Usman Tahir who had provided his team with the big wicket of Harris also didn’t waste time in removing Ansar Iqbal, showing why he is one of the best short format bowlers in the country and that too under pressure!

The tournament’s leading run scorer Nabil and the impressive all-rounder Naghman had a job to do with the score at 35-3 in 3.3 overs. Naghman was looking all set to take this game to the finish line with his contribution of 26 off 16, and support from Nabil (16 off 10) allowed them to stay within reach with a 35 run partnership in 15 balls. Veteran leg spinner Shahid Ahmed was winning his battle of cat and mouse with the MC ball strikers, as his 2 overs for 15 runs and 1 wicket (Mohsaf Gondal) may be considered as the spell that broke the chase for the MC.

Faizan and Mohsaf’s dismissals may have spelt the end of the chase for the Conqueror’s with 24 runs required in the final over and deep into their tail. Naveed Hanif was trusted to close the innings out for the Royals and book their ticket into the final on Sunday, but young Sajeel was in the mood to spoil some parties. The conquerors realistically had no business chasing down 24 in the last six, but Sajeel had belief and watched the ball to the very last moment swatting 2 fours off the first two balls to mid wicket, and the doubts now started to creep in for the Royals. A wide and a dot ball by Naveed was followed by a thumping six at deep midwicket, and then followed by another 4 at square leg! With 5 runs required off the last ball, Sajeel was now in ‘remember the name’ territory, as one good strike could either save his team or win it for them. Much to the dismay of the crowd and MC, Naveed finally got the last ball of the game right cramping Sajeel with no space to free his arms and get the final score. The Royals who had been brilliant throughout the game survived a very late hiccup to secure their spot in the final with a 2 run victory.

Sajeel would leave the ground having earned the respect of everyone, but it was Atta ul Babar’s quick 23 off 12 balls in the middle stages of the first innings that was considered MOTM worthy. The Conqueror’s will know their opponent for Sunday morning once the eliminator concludes this week.

Scorecard summary is as follows:

Man of the match: