Zazai’s fastest 50 in vain as Kabul lose to Balkh
sharjah – Move over Yuvraj Singh and Chris Gayle … a new batting sensation is on the rise and his name is Hazratullah Zazai. A breath-taking half century off only 12 balls from the 20-year-old Afghani matched the feats of the Indian and the West Indian. That was followed by six sixes in an over. Sadly, Zazai’s heroics failed to lift Kabul Zwanan past Balkh Legends’s total of 244 — the highest of the Afghanistan Premier League so far, at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Sunday.
Zazai, fresh from his whirlwind 124 off 55 balls for Kabul Zwanan against Nangarhar Leopards the other day, looked set for another big innings.
Kabul were facing a herculean task but the left-handed opener almost set the tone for the chase with a hurricane 62 from 17 balls. Zazai’s innings was peppered with seven sixes and four fours. The way he went about his batting it looked as if the match would get over in 15 overs.
But once he departed it looked curtains for Kabul. Luke Ronchi (47, 38b, 7x4, 1x6), Shahidullah (40, 20 balls, 4x4, 2x6) and a late onslaught from Colin Ingram (29, 14b, 2x4, 2x6) and Rashid Khan
(19, 7b, 1x4, 2x6) was the only saving grace as Kabul tried hard but were reduced to 223 for 7.
Earlier, Legends won the toss and opted to bat. With a powerful batting line-up in their armoury they could afford to rest their top scorer Ryan ten Doeschate and big-hitting opening batsman Colin Munro and yet put up a mammoth total.
The Dutchman and New Zealander have been among the runs for the Legends and with a semifinal berth assured, it looked like the Legends made the right decision of giving them a breather.
Mind you, they still had the dangerous Gayle in their dressing room and that was enough to send shiv- ers down the rival camp.
Gayle and Dilshan Munaweera gave Balkh Legends just the perfect launchpad, raising 50 runs in five overs. Dilshan was the aggressor in the beginning while Gayle nudged for singles and twos. In no time Dilshan raced to 46 from 25 balls with three sixes and five boundaries before departing.
In came Darwish Rasooli, but it was Gayle who took centrestage, barely breaking a sweat as he launched the bowlers out of the stadium. Rasooli was not to be outdone by the West Indian and came up with some big sixes himself.
Gayle was gearing up for his century when a freak run-out saw him walk back after scoring 80 from 48 balls. Rasooli finished with 50 from 27 balls after clobbering 5 sixes and two fours.
Colin Ingram proved expensive for Kabul as he went for 32 runs in one over.