Aitizaz Habib’s unbeaten 52 extends The Vision Shipping’s winning momentum

By K.R. Nayar

Aitizaz Habib cracked an unbeaten 52 to carry The Vision Shipping to an emphatic seven-wicket win over Savannah Lions in the 19th match of the CBFS powered by Fancode T20 tournament at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Saturday. Savannah Lions could muster only 103 runs and Aitizaz carried his team to the target and reached his half-century through a winning shot boundary. It was The Vision Shipping’s second victory in four matches.


After winning the toss, Savannah Lions elected to bat. The Vision Shipping’s Jawad Ghani, the hero of their last match win over Bukhatir XI through his 13-ball knock of 43, struck with the ball this time. He removed Lions opener Robin Gow Kleinschmidt caught by Fayyaz Ahmed at extra cover for 1 in the second over. The Vision Shipping skipper Saqib Mehmood also removed the other opener Juandre Kurger caught by Shahbaz Ali at backward point for 11.

Roshan Khan and Akshay Rathore added 24 runs for the third wicket before the experienced left-arm spinner Fayyaz Ahmed got Roshan caught by Junaid Shamsu at long-off for 21. His run-a-ball knock had three boundaries. One run later, Mitchell Van Wyk got bowled by Aitizaz Habib Khan for 1. However, Sethurathnam Ramakrishnan who joined Rathore took the score to 80 in 13.6 overs.


Fayyaz Ahmed struck again to have Rathore out for 20, caught by Jawad Ghani. At the same score, Ramakrishnan too departed bowled by Malinda Pushpakumara for 18. Savannah Lions now slipped to 80 for 6 and all hopes of a big score too began to vanish. Pushpakumara also had Mathew Newton caught and bowled for 10. Ghani then went on to pick his second wicket when he clean bowled Timothy Alan for a duck thus bowling out Lions for just 103 in 18.4 overs.

Chasing the easy target, The Vision Shipping got off to a bad start. They lost opener Dilshan Munaweera to the fourth ball of the first over from Mathew Newton, trapped leg before for 1. Captain and opener Saqib Mehmood too fell in the second over caught by Juandre Kurger off Mitchell Van Wyk for 5.


Jawad Ghani continued his aggressive ways and hit a quick 32 off 22 balls with four boundaries and a six. He took the score to 58 before Roshan Khan had him caught by Robin Gow Kleinschmidt. After Ghani fell, Aitizaz Habib Khan took full responsibility and virtually carried the team to the target with support from Ali Abid (7n.o). The Vision Shipping reached the target in 12.1 overs through a flowing cover drive from Aitizaz. This boundary fetched Aitizaz his half-century too and his knock off 31 balls had four boundaries and four sixes.

Speaking about his match-winning knock, Aitizaz said: “I played according to the plan of the team management and the captain. They had told me to take my time and guide the team to the target and I am happy I could do it. I am delighted that we have gained a winning momentum through back-to-back victories and we hope to carry this on in the coming matches too and try and reach the semifinals.”

Brief scores: The Vision Shipping bt Savannah Lions by 7 wkts. Savannah Lions 103 in 18.4 overs (Roshan Khan 21, Akshay Rathore 20, Jawad Ghani 2 for 15, Malinda Pushpakumara 3 for 20, Fayyaz Ahmed 2 for 24) The Vision Shipping 105 for 3 in 12.1 overs (Jawad Ghani 32, Aitizaz Habib 52n.o)
Man of the Match: Aitizaz Habib

 


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