Ali Jana Cricket Club are through to the Finals of Shalabugh Champions League 2024.
Ali Jana CC cemented their place in the finals of Shlabugh Champions League 2024 after a nerve wrecking win over Royal Goodwill Cricket Club.
On a hot thursday afternoon Royal Goodwill CC skipper after winning the toss opted to bowl first. The decision looked dodgy given the magnitude of the game and the sky rocketing temperatures but the skippers decision proved too good as Ali Jana CC were derailed in the very first over by Ishtiyaq Rasool with a twin strike. Ali Jana Kept loosing wickets at regular junctures, if it was not for Omais Itoo’s masterful 41 ball 72 things could have been worse for them. Omais’s solid knock took Ali Jana to a below par 154. Omais was the top scorer for them and was followed by Imran Ganai’s 21 and Shiva singhs 17. For Royal goodwill their skipper was the pick of the bowlers with a 3-fer to his name and he was well supported by Nasir ganie who also added 3 to his wickets column.The Chase looked like a walk in the park because of the ruthless batting order of Royal Goodwill CC, but the Ali Jana bowlers had other ideas and caught Royall goodwill 3 for 3 in 3 overs. The charge was led by the veteran Aasif Rasool who ended up with figures of 9 for 2 in his 4 overs including a maiden. Royal goodwill much like their counterparts kept loosing wickets at regular intervals and it was Aqib Mirs turn to repliacte what Omais did in the first innings. Aqib came in he saw wickets falling he dropped the anchor and went berserk when it mattered the most. Aqib had little support from his sides batters. The likes of Jehangir Lone Ishtiyaq Rasool Nasir Bashir Umar Lefty all faltered when it mattered the most. Aqib mir took things onto himself and fought hard. He took on the bowlers and brought the equation down to 35 of 12 and it still looked an easy win for Ali Jana but Aqib took special liking of Asghar rasool in the penultimate over and it yielded 19 runs which brought it to 16 of 16 and eventually 2 of 1. For once Aaqib mir missed the most important ball of the match and Ali Jana got over the line by the barest of margins. The defeat will not take away anything from Aqib mirs super human effort though, he made a match out of it from nowhere and an unbeaten 81 of just 47 balls. For Ali jana Asif rasool and Sahil Khan took a couple of wickets each.Later at the presentation ceremony Omais itoo bagged the player of the match award.The match was witnessed by a huge number of people from accross the valley. Shalabugh Champions League management thanked all the people by their hearts and they are hopeful that more crowd will turn up on second semifinal on Sunday and the finals coming up.
