Muhammad Shahdad cracks unbeaten 192 in UAE Kings XI’s stunning chase win

By K.R. Nayar

Kashmir is well known for the Kashmir Willow bats but a 24-year-old batter Muhammad Shahdad from this state, playing for UAE Kings XI, displayed what heroics can be done with a cricket bat in the 49th Bukhatir League League, sponsored by Seven Districts, at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.   He stole the thunder through a spectacular unbeaten knock of 192 off just 142 balls comprising 14 boundaries and ten sixes.  Part of the UAE national squad but yet to make his international debut, Shahdad's innings stunned Macwise Titans, who had posted a massive 357 for 5, and emphatically announced that he is ready for the big stage.

Muhammad Shahdad receives the Player of the Match award from match referee Tehseen Javed

Shahdad along with 45-year-old Muhammad Hussain, also known as Jawo, who hit 63 off 48 balls with eight boundaries and a six, gifted Kings XI a three wicket win, that too, with one over to spare.  None of the Titans players would have imagined that after posting such a massive score, they would end up losing the match. The architects of their score was Aryansh Sharma, who hit 128 runs backed by Sahil Hariani, who scored 60 off 67 balls. Ibrar Butt too hit an unbeaten 83 off 73 balls with eight boundaries and four sixes. All these superb batting performances were wiped away by Shahdad’s knock.

Muhammad Shahdad with the Player of the Match award. Click cricketlovers.com for extensive coverage of the 49th Bukhatir League 

It was a treat to interact with Shahdad after his knock. His tale is akin to a gypsy. Though his roots are from Kashmir, he was born in Mauritius but grew up in UAE.  “I’m from Srinagar, but was born in Mauritius and grew up playing cricket in the UAE. I lived here until I was 14, played for ICC Cricket Academy and G Force, and was picked for the UAE U-16 team—but the series got cancelled. I then moved to India and played cricket in Bengaluru and Mumbai, even making the state probables. Eventually, I represented Jammu and Kashmir before returning to the UAE three years ago,” said Shahdad, who had also scored 82 off 84 balls in Kings XI’s opening match on June 12.

Zaffir Choudhury, owner of UAE Kings XI, was full of praise for Shahdad.  “Shahdad is arguably one of the best players for UAE for 50 overs format. In the first match of this season he had an allround performance (82 and two wickets) but we ended up losing.  In this match he once again proved his brilliance, while Jawo—arguably the most experienced player in the UAE—delivered a performance that will be remembered for ages. At the age of 45, what Jawo achieved on the field was nothing short of extraordinary. His composure and experience, combined with Shadad’s fearless stroke play, were key to this historic win.”

Aryansh Sharma's  knock of 128 went in vain

The tale of this match which produced 718 runs, began with Titans opener Aryansh Sharma hitting Nawodya Wijayakumara for a six and a boundary off successive balls in the second over. Sharma was at his aggressive best in the sixth over from Wijayakumara hitting for a six and three boundaries to take 19 runs off that over. The 49 runs opening partnership ended when Zaffir Yasin clean bowled Vaibhav Vaswani for 13. Sharma raced to his half century in 51 balls by the 10^th over.

Titans went past the 100 run mark when Sharma hit Yasin for three boundaries in the 15^th over. Sharma reached his century in 62 balls through a six off Umer Hussain. Two more sixes from Sharma off Faizwan Awan’s 24^th over lifted the team to a commanding score of 185 for 1. In the 25^th over, Nav Pabreja ended Sharma’s knock of 128 by having him caught behind by wicketkeeper Tanish Suri. This also ended the 138 runs partnership for the second wicket between Sharma and Punya Bhatia.  In the same over, Bhatia who played an excellent support role to score 38 runs too fell caught by Umer Hussain.

UAE Kings XI skipper Zaffir Yasin with Macwise Titans skipper Sanchit Sharma during the toss 

Shahdad struck to remove Syed Makhdoom caught and bowled for 1. The fall of three wicket affected the run flow with Shahdad bowling a tight 30^th and 32^nd over giving away just two runs. Soon Ibar Butt took charge and hit Yasin for a six and a boundary in the 33^rd over. His partnership with Sahil Hariani began to swell. Butt again thrashed Yasin for two boundaries and a six in the 39^th over. Hariani reached his half century in 59 balls and Butt too reached his 50 in 58 balls.

Wijayakumara ended the 155 runs partnership for the fifth wicket by clean bowling Hariani for 60. Skipper Sanchit Sharma provided support to Butt and took the score to 357 runs through an unbeaten 26 runs partnership. Sharma remained unbeaten on 12 while Butt returned unconquered on 83.

Kings XI wanted a good start to reach the huge target but got off to a bad start. Sanchit Sharma got Tanish Suri caught behind by Aryansh Sharma for a duck in the first over. Khalid Shah, fresh from his match wining 96 runs against GHK Properties, hit Sharma for a three boundaries and six in the fifth over to take 19 runs off that over. Sharma avenged his thrashing by having Shah caught by Raunak Vaswani for 30 runs. To make matters worse, Angad Nehru clean bowled Rizwan CP for a duck. Nehru also clean bowled Faizan Awan for 11. Four down for 79 in 15.4 overs, it looked like Kings XI were heading towards a huge defeat.

Wijayakumara along with Shahdad took the score to 113 when Vaswani had Wijayakumara caught by Sharma for 18. Soon Shahdad reached his half century in 82 balls. Kings XI lost their sixth wicket for 158 when Adithya Shetty had Danish Ahmad caught by Sharma for 16. In walked the veteran batter Jawo who changed the course of the match with Shahdad. Hitting Butt for a six and taking a single, in the 38^th over, Shahdad reached his century in 109 balls.  Jawo hit Butt for three consecutive boundaries in the 40^th over. Runs flowed freely when Shahdad also hit Shetty for three successive boundaries.

The big hitting resulted in Titans losing grip on the match. Jawo reached his half century in 40 balls through a six off Shetty. The score went past the 300 mark in 46 overs. The massacre of the bowling reached its peak in the 48^th over when Shahzad hit Vaswani for a boundary and two successive sixes off the first three balls and ended that over hitting the fifth delivery for a six and the last ball for another boundary. Twenty-eight runs were scored off that over.

Though Sanchit Sharma got Jawo caught behind by wicketkeeper Vaibhav Vaswani for 63, Faisal Altaf hit the winning boundary off the last ball of the 49^th over to win the match. Shahdad returned the pavilion clapped all the way for his classy unbeaten 192.

Brief scores:
UAE Kings XI bt Macwise Titans by 3 wkts. Macwise Titans 357 for 5 in 50 overs (Aryansh Sharma 128, Punya Bhatia 38, Sahil Hariani 60, Ibrar Butt 83n.o, Nav Prabreja 2 for 48) UAE Kings XI 361 for 7 in 49 overs (Khalid Shah 30, Muhammad Shahdad 192n.o, Jawo 63, Sanchit Sharma 3 for 83, Angad Nehru 2 for 45)
Player of the Match: Muhammad Shahdad