MINGORA: A brisk 67-run knock from captain Jamaludin helped Shamezai Baryali sail through a nail-biting final of the first Suzuki T20 Swat Super League against Elum Batoran here at the Grassy Ground late on Friday.

Elum Batoran elected to field first after winning the toss and saw Shamezai Baryali score 179 with captain Jamaludin contributing 67 while a quick-fire 52 by Jalil including six sixes and a four proved handy.

All-rounder Kishwar Ali returned a figure of 4-27.

In their chase of 180 target, Elum Batoran batted cautiously against some tight bowling.

Akbar Hussain put up resistance scoring 52 not out while Riaz’s 25, Rahmat Ali’s 20 and Kishwar 21 proved handy but could not save Batoran’s sinking boat.

When only 27 were needed in the last two overs with four wickets remaining, the crowd had all hopes that Akbar will save his team but it proved in vain as they needed 20 in the last over.Eventually they lost by seven runs.

Skipper of the winning team Jamaludin said that such competitive cricket would help produce professional players like Imran Khan Jr, Hamza and Mukhtiar who played in national set-up in different editions of the game.

Skipper of Elum Batoran Rahmat Ali, who also plays domestic T20 cricket, appreciated the initiation of Super League format and said that it would benefit emerging players to a great extent.

“Such tournaments improve cricket and I am sure national-level players will emerge by such initiative if it continues in future,” he said.

Jamaludin was declared as the best batsman and Amir Shohail of the same team was declared as the best bowler of the tournament.

Published in Dawn September 11th, 2016