Twitter Reactions: Leopards romp to the victory in a must-win game

Nangarhar Leopards have managed to keep their semi-final hopes well and truly alive with a resounding victory over the table toppers in the Afghanistan Premier League (APL). Their win has left the Knights with no option but to win their remaining two matches with a decent margin. The Balkh Legends couldn’t put their best foot forward on the day though the loss doesn’t make much difference to them.

They rested Chris Gayle and brought back Colin Munro into the side as Ryan Ten Doeschate and Ravi Bopara were also back. But after opting to bat first, they lost Dilshan Munaweera only in the second over by Naveen-ul-Haq. However, Darwish Rasooli took the attack to the opposition and added 43 runs along with the Kiwi Munro. The latter was dismissed for nine and even Rasooli was also sent back as the Legends were left reeling at 46/3.

The duo of Ten Doeschate and Bopara then rebuilt with a 48-run partnership in almost eight overs. Both of them got decent starts and failed to convert it into a big one. The wickets kept on falling for the table-toppers and they could eventually post only 133 runs on the board. The pitch was getting slower and it was their only hope to defend the total.

Fletcher powers Leopards to good start

Andre Fletcher, playing his first game of the tournament, probably vented his frustration out the way he batted. He took on every bowler that came his way and blasted his way to 48 off just 22 deliveries. Mohammad Nabi was in the firing line who went for 27 runs in a single over as the equation came down to less than run a ball inside the power play overs.

But there was a moment of madness from the Leopards’ batsmen as they lost four wickets in no time thanks to Qais Ahmad. They were sitting comfortably at 61/0 and were reduced to 83/4 to make things interesting. The duo of Shafiqullah Shafiq and Hashmatullah Shahidi played the patient game and stormed the weather for some time.

After getting their eyes in, both the batsmen played flamboyant strokes to take their team home with two overs to spare and kept their hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals alive. While Shafiq remained unbeaten on 27, Shahidi scored 31 runs as their partnership helped the team pocket the much-needed victory.

Here’s how Twitterati reacted during the game: