LAHORE: Slow left-arm orthodox spinner Afnan Khan’s hat-trick gave Rawalpindi Raiders a dramatic 14-run win over Hyderabad Hunters in the rain-reduced match of the Pakistan Junior League (PJL) under lights here at the Gaddafi Stadium on Tuesday.

The Hunters were given a revised target of 55 runs in five overs after the Raiders innings was shortened due to a thunderstorm at the end of the 16th over of their innings with the total at 125-4.

Afnan took the hat-trick — the very first of PJL — in the last over.

The loss left the winless Hunters on the verge of an early exit from the six-team tournament as the defeat to Raiders was their third successive defeat.

Despite a relatively simple task, the Hunters chase got off to a poor start as openers Arbaz Khan (0) and captain Saad Baig (8) fell cheaply. The Hunters then lost Afaq Khan for a first-ball duck and Moiz Rana for a second-ball duck to slump to 19-4 in two overs. Ali Raza’s dramatic second over took 11 balls and included two no-balls and two wides besides the two wickets.

Afnan bowled a brilliant third over, conceding just six runs to leave Hunters needing 30 off the last 12 balls. Naveed Ahmed Khan conceded a four and a six to Ali Naseer (12) before having him stumped to leave the Hunters tottering at 35-5.

Needing 16 off the last over, the Hunters were stifled by Afnan who conceded a single run while capturing the wickets of Mohammad Zubair Jr, Hassan Iqbal and Dubs Wood off successive deliveries.

The Hunters finished their disappointing five-over innings at 40-8.

Earlier, the Raiders were provided a scintillating start by openers Hassan Eisakhil (52 off 36 balls) and captain Habibullah (39 off 21, two fours, four sixes) who gave their team a rollicking 69-run stand in just 5.4 overs.

Habibullah took pacer Fahad Amin to the cleaners by taking 32 runs in the fourth over of the match, the most expensive of the PJL so far.

After the dismissal of the openers, the Raiders could not maintain the momentum as the thunderstorm disrupted the proceedings.

Summarised scores:

Rawalpindi Raiders beat Hyderabad Hunters by 14 runs (DLS method).

RAWALPINDI RAIDERS 125-4 in 16 overs (Hassan Eisakhil 52, Habibullah 39; Dubs Wood 1-9, Muneeb Wasif 1-15); HYDERABAD HUNTERS 40-8 in 5 overs (Ali Naseer 12; Afnan Khan 3-7, Ali Raza 2-8).

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2022