Bukhatir XI opener Vriitya Aravind’s defiant knock of 63 and Khalid Shah’s captain’s knock of 73 ensured their team an exciting 14-runs win over Karwan Strikers in the eighth match of the CBFS powered by Fancode T20 tournament at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Thursday night. Fayyaz Ahmed’s fighting knock of 51 for Karwan Strikers went in vain.

Karwan Strikers, after winning the toss and electing to field, saw Bukhatir XI openers Vriitya Aravind and skipper Khalid Shah provide an excellent start. Aravind, who did not get going in the earlier matches, struck form in this match and hit 63 off 50 balls with nine boundaries. With Khalid stroking fluently, the pair put on 140 runs in 14.6 overs.
Aravind was the first to go falling leg before to Tariq Mahmood. Seven runs later, Shah too became Tariq Mahmood’s second victim for 73. Shah’s knock came off 46 balls with six boundaries and four sixes. Though Renjit Mani fell quickly caught by Fayyaz Ahmed off Muhammad Farooq Momand for 8, Muhammmad Hassan Khan through an unbeaten 18 and Jamshaid Zafar Butt’s unbeaten 10 helped Bukhatir XI post a challenging 181 for 3 in 20 overs.

Chasing a run rate of 9.05, Karwan Strikers opener Waqar Ahmed gave a quick start hitting 21 runs out of the 24 runs opening partnership. Ahmed’s knock ended when Ankur Sangwan had him caught by Muhammad Hassan Khan. Opener Aryan Lakra took the score to 57 before becoming the first of the two victims of Unaib Rehman by getting caught by Mohammad Halan. Lakra’s 24 off 21 balls had three boundaries and a six. When Unaib Rehman had Ameer Hamsa too caught by Halan for 7 and Simraneet Singh trapped Ali Khan leg before for 15, Karwan Strikers began to struggle at 89 for 4 in 12 overs. Tariq Mehmood got caught by Renjith Mani off Muhammad Mudassir Ghulam for 2.

With the score reading 94 for 5, Fayyaz Ahmed took on the challenge and kept scoring at a brisk rate. He got wicketkeeper Furqan Khalil as a good partner and added 51 runs for the sixth wicket. This partnership ended with Khalil getting run out for 26. Fayyaz Ahmed tried his best to push his team towards the target but fell to the third ball of the last over for 51, clean bowled by Muhammad Irfan Yusufzai. His knock came off 35 balls and had five boundaries and two sixes. Karwan Strikers were thus restricted to 167 for 7. Bukhatir XI thus won by 14 runs
Speaking about his Man of the Match performance and his team’s victory, Khalid Shah said: ‘It was a good game for us after two defeats. We wanted to do something special in this match and we did it. Vriitya (Aravind) and I decided to play the maximum number of overs as we were short of a batsman for this match. Thankfully we had a 140 runs partnership.”

Talking about his captain’s knock, Shah said: “It’s always special when you score runs especially being the captain of the side and winning the match and also become the Man of the Match. Such moments are always special moments for me. To be very honest, I have played some good innings recently but this was one innings that I batted under pressure. It was much needed for the team and for myself. I am eyeing a slot in the UAE team for the T20 Qualifiers. For me it’s a dream to play for the UAE.”

Brief scores:
Bukhatir XI bt Karwan Strikers by 14 runs.Bukhatir XI 181 for 3 in 20 overs (Vriitya Aravind 63, Khalid Shah 73, Tariq Mehmood 2 for 38) Karwan Strikers 167 for 7 in 20 overs (Waqar Ahmed 21, Aryan Lakra 24, Fayyaz Ahmed 51, Furqan Khalil 26, Unaib Rehman 2 for 32)
Man of the Match: Khalid Shah