The Avengers lift the Kumar Vishal Trophy
TPCL Staff.
17:38 IST
With the Kumar Vishal Trophy Final being levelled at 1-1, The Avengers met the Bad Boys for the 3rd time at The Floating Marvel in the Finals series. The winner of this match would've lifted the Kumar Vishal Trophy. Bad Boys had
won the first Final by 130 runs while the 2nd Final was a close affair which The Avengers
won by 3 runs . So after that sort of bounce back it was pretty clear that this was going to be the most intense Final clash of all-times in TPCL history.
The Avengers won the toss and chose to bat first on what looked like a typical Floating Marvel pitch. Although after few overs it became pretty clear that the surface had lost a bit of pace and had become a dead track. All this meant that this was going to be a high-scoring contest. The Avengers openers, Ahmed Leo and Sod Anderson dominated the Bad Boys bowlers in such a way that the leading wicket-taker of the tournament Franklin Jacob did not complete the full quota of overs. His figures read 0/32 in 4 overs as he looked completely ineffective. Maybe a bit of complacency or a sign of tiredness.
Sod & Leo put on a 175-run partnership for the opening stand before Schwanstegger dismissed Ahmed Leo out caught behind for 87(96). Raza-Sod pair did not last long either as Sod Anderson got out to Ohm Fischer on 80. Talha Hayat joined Asad Raza at the crease at 203/2. Just when Raza had started to look dangerous, the leading run-scorer of The Avengers till that point got out lbw to Rukanah's accurate and pacy bowling on 18. With 3 quick wickets, the Bad Boys seemed to be repeating what The Avengers did in their previous match while defending their score of 259.
Appu Kiran started his counter-attack as he took on the Bad Boys bowlers. Talha Hayat also joined in the carnage after a steady start to his innings. Appu Kiran continued to attack but he perished to Fadhl Rukunah being caught on the boundary by Madd Genius on 39. The Avengers scored 56 in the last 5 overs of the innings for the loss of just one wicket. Talha scored 80*(55) taking his team to a very good total of 339/4. Fadhl Rukunah ended with figures of 2/58 in his 10 overs while Fischer and Schwanstegger got a wicket each. The Bad Boys batting line-up now had a huge task ahead infront of them since this was the highest ever score at The Floating Marvel and no team had chased a score in excess of 230 at this venue.
Lalit Modi and Parth K got off to a slow start and were put under pressure by Nilay Shah and Mohsin's tight line and length with Kiran giving away just 2 runs from his first over. With the increasing run-rate, it was important for them to target a particular bowler to get some momentum into the innings. They chose Appu Kiran's 2nd over by scoring 14 runs of his 2nd over, the 8th of the innings. Both openers scored their half-centuries by the end of 15 overs. Modi was the first wicket to fall being caught behind by Hayat off Dylan Smith on 66. With that innings, Lalit Modi went past Dikshansh Darshan's 416 runs to become the leading run-score of the Kumar Vishal Trophy.
In the span of next 5 overs, with just 11 runs coming in those over, Parth K had to take a risk and in turn he perished to The Avengers Captain Gaming on 60. Couple of overs later, Madd Genius who struggled his way to a 26-ball 10 got out caught on the boundary off Neptune. At 152/3 in 26 overs, The Avengers were clearly ahead in the game. However, Schwanstegger who was joined by Chris Swift added a quick 50-run partnership bringing up the 200 in the 35th over. Gaming brought himself back in the attack as he got Swift for 31. Skipper Umair Nazim who had dropped himself owing to a poor form came out to bat in his comeback match with Bad Boys needing 138 runs to win in just 90 balls. Nazim who had struggled for runs was seeing the ball better than anyone else in this match as he smashed a couple of sixes in one over to the inexperienced Dylan Smith.
With 101 required off the last 10 overs, the Bad Boys had to give out their all. Schwanstegger scored his 4th half century this season and his 2nd in consecutive matches. Nilay Shah was seemed to be very economical in the context of the match in his 7 overs ended up conceding 11 of his 8th. But this was followed by a maiden over from Appu Kiran. But Bad Boys somehow kept up with the rate. Nazim brought up his first half century of the season in just 25 balls!! He smashed 16 runs of Nilay's last over as the Bad Boys were motoring along now to their target. Kiran gave away 11 runs in his last over with The Avengers requiring to defend 12 off the last over. Mohsin was given the responsibility to bowl the final over. Schwanstegger got a single off the first ball bringing back the dangerous looking Umair back on strike. Mohsin bowled 4 dots in a row and had the Bad Boys thinking whether it was the wrong decision to give Nazim the strike. On the 5th delivery, he struck the ball firmly and somehow managed to hit a boundary. With 7 needed off the last ball, the pressure was getting intense. The equation was simple for The Avengers to win, just avoid conceding a six. Hayat was brought up to the wickets to discourage Nazim from stepping out. Mohsin bowled a length ball in the slot to which Nazim hit a pull and deposited the ball into the stands.
A tie in the Finals to be followed by a Super Over? Wow, gives us 2019 WC Final vibes!!!
The Avengers decided to bowl their trump card Nilay Shah in the Super Over bowling to Umair Nazim & Lalit Modi. Shah looked clearly ineffective being hit for boundaries on consecutive deliveries by Umair Nazim. He somehow got him off strike on the third delivery. Lalit Modi also smashed a couple of boundaries but got out on the last ball of the Super Over caught at point trying to hit his 3rd consecutive boundary.
Talha Hayat took the strike accompanied by Sod Anderson as they had to score 16 off Rukunah's over. Rukunah nearly took away Talha's off stump starting with a dot. Hayat smashed a short ball for a boundary which Rukunah followed up with a wide. On Modi's advice, he pitched it full to which Hayat stepped out and hit him over cover for a one bounce four. Rukunah's 4th ball resulted in a couple more followed by a single from Talha. With 4 required off the last ball, Sod Anderson pulled it towards mid-wicket and won the Kumar Vishal Trophy for the side.
With all that talk of Neptune's leadership, Nilay's brilliance, Sod's consistency at the top...... Talha Hayat's contribution was something that went a little unnoticed. He was one such player who scored match after match for them and that too in pressure situations and hence deserves a lot of credit. Without him, Avengers wouldn't have been able to soak so much pressure that they were put under in so many games. This was one player who looked a little out of form in the One day leg and managed to be a little more consistent in the First Class competition played a lone-hand in the T20s the last season for them. People had known his abilities back in the days but this tournament win was something that would perhaps be fitting for the contribution that he has made!!!