Maratha Arabians wallop Bengal Tigers
sharjah – Afghanistan’s Hazratullah Zazai seems to have taken a leaf out of his countrymate Mohammad Zazai’s book.
The portly Shahzad had plundered an unbeaten 74 from 16 balls in Rajputs’ win over Sindhis in a T10 League match at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium a few days ago.
On Friday, Zazai went one better by clobbering 76 from 35 balls in Maratha Arabians’ massive nine-wicket win over Bengal Tigers, thus making the lefthanded opening batsman the highest scorer in the tournament so far.
Zazai was also helped in his journey by dropped catches from the Tigers.
“When you drop catches in any format the batsman is sure to take a chance. I was in good form and when my catch was dropped – Arabians were 29 for no loss at that stage – I went on to hit a couple more sixes,” the Man of the Match said later.
After the hammering the Marathas received at the hands of Punjabi Legends on Thursday,
they came up with a clinical performance on Friday.
First their bowlers did well to restrict Bengal to 91 for 7 in their 10 overs. James Faulker (2-14) was the best of the lot with Rashid Khan, Van der Merwe, Gleeson and Bravo chipping in with a wicket each.
Only Jason Roy managed a decent 27 for the Tigers.
Then Zazai took over and there was mayhem as he blasted the ball for 10 fours and four sixes.
“The coach and skipper gave me a plan and I just followed it and it came off. In T10 you need to try and hit every ball so you have to be focused on every ball.”
Brief scores: Bengal Tigers 91 for 7 in 10 overs (Jason Roy 27, Aamer Yamin 17 n.o.; James Faulkner 2-14) Maratha Arabians 92 for 1 in 8.2 overs (Hazratullah Zazai 76). Man of the match: Hazratullah Zazai.