Twitter Reactions: Rashid Khan powers Kabul Zwanan to a massive win in the one-sided semi-final

Rashid Khan picked four wickets in the innings thus leading his team from the front into the summit clash.

By Suryesh M

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Rashid Khan
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Rashid Khan. (Photo Source: Twitter)

Things didn’t even go half as expected in the second semi-final between the Kabul Zwanan and the Paktia Panthers. While it was expected that a very tough competition would prevail with both sides fighting tooth and nail for a spot in the fi, it ended being a completely one-sided affair. The Paktia Panthers, after having put in all the hard strides simply lost it in the knockout game. Zwanan’s skipper Rashid Khan was magnificent both with the bat as well as the ball and took his team through.

He smashed a crucial 35 off 19 balls towards the end to take his teams’ total much above-par. When Rashid came out to bowl in the second innings, the leggie picked two wickets in his first two balls to push the opposition on the back foot right at the onset of their chase. Kabul Zwanan will now face the tournament favourites Balkh Legends in the final of the APL 2018.

The Zwanan start bad but end on a high

Rashid won the toss and opted to bat first. However, they didn’t have an ideal start and lost a few wickets early. Luke Ronchi was dismissed for 15 while his partner Hazratullah Zazai scored 24. Although they kept losing wickets in the first ten overs, one thing the Kabul Zwanan did well was to maintain a good run rate.

They were 87/4 after 10 overs. Colin Ingram carried on with his good form and scored 44 off 27 balls. Laurie Evans too contributed some important runs. The English man got 31 off 21 deliveries. However, it was skipper Rashid who provided the team with the much-needed impetus at the end. He was unbeaten on 35 off 19 balls as the team scored 65 in the last five overs to end up with 192 runs on the board.

Paktia Panthers tumble badly in the chase

The Panthers suffered a big blow losing their in-form batsman Mohammad Shahzad for just 1 run early in the innings. From there on, they could never recover. Kabul bowlers kept chipping in with regular wickets and completely unsettled the batting order.

Although Shahid Afridi played a small cameo of 27 from 16 balls in the middle, it was never really going to be sufficient. The side was bowled out for just 102 runs and lost the game by a margin of 90 massive runs. Rashid Khan picked four wickets in the innings thus leading his team from the front into the summit clash.

Twitterati seemed to be all excited for the final between Kabul Zwanan and the Balkh Legends. The two teams have played some great cricket and it is going to be an interesting contest. Also, the Paktia Panthers were heavily trolled for such a pathetic performance on the big occasion.

Here is how Twitterati reacted during the 2nd semi-final of APL 2018:

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APL (Afghanistan Premier League)