Twitter Reactions: Mohammad Nabi and his boys humble the Leopards in the semi-final

The tournament favourites Balkh Legends are going from strength to strength in this edition. They seem to be a force to reckon with as they have now progressed to the final of the inaugural edition of the APL. And, they did that resplendently by defeating the Nangarhar Leopards by an unimaginable 171 runs. Skipper Mohammad Nabi was the star of the night.

The first semi-final against the Nangarhar Leopards ended up being a completely one-sided competition. Their win is the second largest margin of victory in T20 cricket till date. First, they set a huge total of 235 runs on the board. Then, the Balkh Legends bowled out the opposition for a mere 64 runs to clinch one of the most convincing wins.

The openers take the team off to a flyer

Having opted to bat first, Chris Gayle continued to exactly where he left off in the previous game. The Jamaican pushed the bowlers on the back foot right at the start to get to 54 off just 30 balls. His new opening partner Darwish Rasooli played the second fiddle until Gayle was dismissed and took things under his control once the 39-year-old got out. Rasooli impressed everyone with 78 off just 45 balls.

Then, Colin Munro looked to be in decent touch as he made his way to 33 off 22 balls. However, it was Mohammad Nabi who set the stage on fire with 47 off just 16 balls. But, after he got out, the Legends could only get 18 off the last 14 balls of the innings. Even though the end wasn’t impressive, the first 17 overs of the innings were so oppressive that they got to 235 runs.

Mohammad Nabi shatters the top order

Chasing 235 on such a big occasion was never going to be easy. It clearly showed when the Leopards were batting as everyone was trying to go hard at the bowlers. Nabi opened the bowling and was on fire with the ball. He picked three wickets in his opening spell and came back later to pick another one.

Only three batsmen out of the eleven could get to the double figures. But none of them even managed to get past 15 runs. Qais Ahmad complemented Mohammad Nabi brilliantly as he picked three wickets in his four overs. The opposition was bowled out for just 64 runs in 13.1 overs.

Mohammad Nabi, for his splendid show with the bat as well as the ball, was undoubtedly the ‘Man of the Match’. Twitterati seemed to be elated was this brilliant show from one of the most experienced Afghan player. Also, they hailed Chris Gayle, Darwish Rasooli and Qais Ahmad for putting up good performances. The Leopards were heavily trolled for such a disappointing display.

Here is how Twitterati reacted:

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