LAHORE: Rawalpindi Raiders joined Gwadar Sharks, Mardan Warriors and their Saturday night opponents Bahawalpur Royals in the Pakistan Junior League playoffs with a convincing 23-run victory against the Royals here at the Gaddafi Stadium.

The Colin Munro-mentored Raiders produced an impressive all-round performance to overpower the table-toppers in the crucial clash.

Next ball Tayyab (26 off 23 balls, three fours) returned to the dugout, bowled by Aseer Mughal as the scoreboard read 71-2 in the ninth over. Farhan Yousuf (1) and Ali Razzaq (5) fell in quick succession to leave the Royals reeling at 82-4, losing four wickets for 11 runs.

Royals started their 164-run chase positively through Basit Ali and Tayyab Arif. Basit struck a 32-ball 44 featuring eight boundaries before being dismissed by left-arm spinner Ziaullah.

Aseer (3-19) ran through Royals’ batting as they stuttered to 94-5 in 13.1 overs and could eventually post 140-9.

Earlier after being put in to bat, Raiders totalled 163-7 with captain Habibullah (36), Hassan Eisakhil and Ali Ishaq (30 each) making notable contributions.

Summarised scores:

RAWALPINDI RAIDERS 163-7 in 20 overs (Habibullah 36, Hassan Eisakhil 30, Ali Ishaq 30; Mohammad Zeeshan 2-20, Nathan Edward 2-24, Arham Nawab 2-24); BAHAWALPUR ROYALS 140-9 in 20 overs (Basit Ali 44, Mohammad Danish 30, Mohammad Tayyab Arif 26; Aseer Mughal 3-19, Ziaullah 2-31).

Published in Dawn, October 17th, 2022