PCL T20 Chittagong 2009
Nafis carries BU thru’
Local boy Nafis Iqbal led from the front to steer Brothers Union to the final of the Habib Group PCL Twenty20 tournament in the exciting first semifinal where they beat Dada Warriors by six wickets at the MA Aziz Stadium here yesterday.
Batting first, Dada Warriors scored 170 for 5 and in reply, Brothers reached the target in 19.4 overs losing six wickets.
Nafis, who remained unbeaten on 70, swept left-arm spinner Arafat Sunny’s first ball of the final over to the square leg fence. He then picked up a single, leaving batting partner Rezaul Karim to score three runs from four balls. Left-hander Rezaul leveled the score with two runs pushed to midwicket and scampered the winning single off the fourth delivery. Delirious scenes erupted as Nafis, aided by a runner almost throughout his innings, snapped back to form with seven boundaries in his 56-ball knock after having scored just 40 runs from three previous matches.
“My focus before start of the daunting chase was to stay at the crease till the end of the match because it was my firm belief that as long as I would be there, we can win the match. I’m very happy now that the strategy has clicked nicely,” an elated Nafis told the reporters after receiving the man-of-the-match prize.
Abdur Razzak added a valuable 13-ball 19 while Sri Lankan Chamara Kapugedara also contributed with an 18-ball 29 cameo. But Kapugedera’s countryman Jehan Mubarak scored just eight.
Dada could single out Rubel Hossain’s 18th over as the turning point as the slinger conceded 17 runs including three wides and a no-ball that saw the ‘free hit’ smacked to the boundary. The national paceman was the most expensive bowler of the day, giving up 54 runs from his four overs.
But Dada’s start could not have predicted such a disastrous ending after their openers Zunaed Siddiqui and Saeed Anwar Jr added 116 runs for the opening stand in just 13.1 overs. Left-handed Zunaed kept up his good form, hitting six sixes and as many boundaries in his chancy 50-ball 77.
The innings was terminated in Younus’s first over, fourteenth of the innings, when Kapugedera caught Zunaed. Four balls later, Anwar was caught behind off the same bowler for a run-a-ball 33. The two had added 108 for the opening stand against Pirates of Chittagong only the day before.
Younus, who took a hattrick with 3 for 17 against Top Sports on Wednesday, took his third wicket when he took a stunning return catch off Kashif Naveed. The Pakistani all-rounder smashed one straight but Younus’s bucket-like hands snaffled up the half-chance.
Gleeful Brothers Union secretary Mohammad Elias announced a Dhaka-Kuala Lumpur return air ticket for two and another well-wisher Siraj Ullah declared a prize of 500 dollars for Nafis.
BRIEF SCORES
DADA WARRIORS: 170-5 in 20 overs (Anwar 33, Zunaed 77, Faisal 20, Imran 4, Kashif 19, Arafat 3*, Kamrul 4*; Younus 3-14).
BROTHERS UNION: 171-6 in 19.4 overs (Mubarak 8, Nafis Iqbal 70*, Mehrab 4, Tushar 10, Kapugedara 29, Razzak 19, Dollar 3, Rezaul 13*; Anwar 1-18, Kashif 2-30, Arafat 1-34, Kamrul 1-32).
Result: Brothers Union won by four wickets.
Man-of-the-match: Nafis Iqbal.
