White Hunterz 210/8 in 20 overs (Rizwan 114, Ahsan 27, Midhun 6/26) defeated Independent Cricket Club 77/10 in 13.5 overs (Siby 28, Aadhil 11, Abdullah 4/12) by 133 runs
The people who followed the Volcano T20 Cup closely know why the final game of the tournament was the most anticipated one. Both the finalists dominated their opposition throughout the tournament. Not even a single team looked like coming close to them throughout the league or knockout stage. They lead the group stage points table by some margins and then routed the oppositions in the semifinal. So when these two teams locked down a place in the finals, you knew what to expect.
Unfortunately for all the followers, Hunterz turned the game into a one-sided encounter. They pushed their opposition against the wall in the first inning and then broke the wall to throw them out of the game in the first 10 overs of the second inning. The toss landed in their favor and they elected to bat first.
The first inning was dominated by just two players, Mohammad Rizwan and Midhun Sudhakar. At 166 for 1 in the 15th over, Hunterz were looking at 250 but Midhun dried their runs in the last few overs with some clever bowling but that was not enough as the damage was done already done till then. Mohammad Rizwan single-handedly destroyed the ICC bowlers with an inning that saw 12 balls going into the stands. His 50 ball 114 meant other partners of him only needed to pass on the strike to him. He targeted the area between deep mid-wicket and long-off to good effect and 65% of his runs came in that area. The kind of a form he was in can be guessed by the fact that not even a single run of him came behind the wicketkeeper. He got them all on the meat of the bat.
In the later part of the inning, Midhun struck back to back and he finished with the figures of 4-0-26-6 but none of the other bowlers were spared. The top four of five went for over 10 runs an over. Aadhil received some harsh treatment in his two overs where he was taken for 35. Despite losing 6 for 35 in the last 5 overs, Hunterz managed to put 214 on the board.
The only team you would think can chase 214 against the Hunterz must be the Independent Cricket Club, Except for the fact that they failed. Their batting crumbled under pressure. They lost Shakeer for a duck in the first over and by the end of the powerplay overs; their top order was back in the hut. Abdullah Abbasi destroyed the middle order for fun. He snapped four of the most prized wickets. Mudassir Hussain complemented him well with his figures of 2/9 as ICC were bundled out for a meager 77 in the fourteenth over. A tournament full of excitement finished with some dull batting in the end. Mohammad Rizwan didn’t just bag the man of the match award, he bagged the MVP by edging out Ahsan Riaz by slightest of the margins.
