Twitter Reactions: Mohammad Shahzad's blistering innings helps the Panthers finish second on the points table
The skippers from both the teams were brilliant on the night.
In a dead rubber of a game, the Kabul Zwanan hosted the Paktia Panthers for the last encounter of the league stage. Since it will be the semi-finals for the knockout stages, the result wasn’t really of high importance. Both the teams would get through and finishing higher on the points table has no special incentives. Hence, the Zwanan team opted for a lot of changes to give all the players a go.
Regular skipper Rashid Khan, along with a few other players were rested. Colin Ingram led the side in his absence. On the other hand, the Paktia Panthers didn’t want to change around much. The side won the game by six wickets with two balls to spare. Mohammad Shahzad, who led his team from the front, was awarded the ‘Man of the Match’.
Colin Ingram plays a captains’ knock
The stand-in skipper Colin Ingram won the toss and elected to bat first. However, Kabul Zwanan lost both their openers Luke Ronchi and Hazratullah Zazai for 3 and 1 runs respectively. Surprisingly, Wayne Parnell was sent in at number three and he responded beautifully with 42 off 28 deliveries.
Later, Colin Ingram took the onus upon himself to take his side to a respectable total. He registered his first fifty in APL 2018 off just 36 balls. The left-hander then accelerated to score another 33 in the next 15 balls and was unbeaten on 83 which he scored off 51 deliveries. The side put up 168 runs on the board in 20 overs after losing five wickets.
The Paktia Panthers do it easy in the chase
The Panthers paced the chase really well. Although they suffered a major blow with Ihsanullah Janat walking off retired hurt early in the innings, they didn’t really panic. Skipper Mohammad Shahzad took the team off to a flyer with a brisk 62 at a strike rate of 168.
Calum MacLeod, with 35 off 30 balls and Shenwari with 27 off 22 deliveries played the anchors in the chase. Shahid Afridi, who was unbeaten on 30 finished the chase with a boundary. Wayne Parnell picked two wickets in the chase.
The supporters of Paktia Panthers seemed to be glad for their team finishing second while the Zwanan fans brushed off this defeat. Both the skippers, Colin Ingram and Mohammad Shahzad, received some good praise.
Here is how Twitterati reacted:
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