Scorecard

Written by Haris Imtiaz

On a rainy afternoon Villa Park faced Hyderabad Deccan team after 5 years with lot of new faces in the side. VPCC won the toss and elected bat in a reduced over contest. Mujtaba Baqir (30) and Zeyad Imtiaz (19) provided a rare good 49 runs start against the lethal pace of new sensation Javid Patel (1) and Co. After surviving the initial burst from HDCC pacers Mujtaba dominated the innings with couple of powerful sixes. Zeyad not at his usual flare struggled to 19 before getting out. Haris Imtiaz (24) came at number 3 position and provided a solid platform by scoring freely against spinners. But in the middle phase of the innings spinners took control by rushing through some quick overs and also taking wickets at regular interval. But Mr. Dependable Fawad Agha (34) provided the support for Arsalan Ali (33 off 13 balls) who played best innings of his career by smashing some of the massive sixes this ground has seen. He took attack to the bowlers in the late overs; especially he was ruthless against Asif Patel, who went 57 runs in 4 overs. Villa Park scored 174 runs in 25 overs.

Hyderabad Deccan team had their work cut out for them chasing huge target against one of the best bowling lineup in the league. Haris Imtiaz (2) gave VPCC a dream started by knocking the stumps in the first over. Ahmed Bakhshi repeated the act in his first over from the other end, sending both openers back in the pavilion. HDCC main striker Imran A. Patel (64*) came to bat with the support of Abdul Behlim (19). Both batsmen rebuilt the innings to some extent but as things were looking threatening for VPCC, Haris struck again, but there was no stopping Imran on the other end. Fielding did not help much as 2 back-to-back catches were put down. Furqan Qureshi showed big heart and kept coming back at HDCC by taking 2 crucial wickets. As game was heading to a close finish, this time rain came down hard to declare a hard fought tie. Both teams had remarkable performances and shared the honors and splitting the point.