Teenaged leg-spinner Qais Ahmed and veteran opener Chris Gayle – who hit his fourth consecutive fifty -teamed up to hand Balkh Legends the inaugural Afghanistan Premier League title in Sharjah on Sunday with a four-wicket win.
Ahmed, 18, ripped the heart out of Kabul Zwanan’s batting as he picked up 5-18 from his four overs to restrict them to 132-9.
Kabul were well-placed at 108-4 with five overs remaining in the first innings when things started to go haywire. Qais’ sharp leg-spinners and top-spinners accounted for the likes of top-scorer Javed Ahmadi and captain Rashid Khan.
On a slow Sharjah surface, that was not going to be a challenging total.
T20 Master Blaster is in the house. Hold on to your seats. #APLT20 pic.twitter.com/TPhlgfLlzu
— Afghanistan Premier League T20 (@APLT20official) October 21, 2018
But South Africa quick Wayne Parnell almost made it one. In the first over of the chase, Parnell dismissed Kiwi Colin Munro for a duck and then rattled the stumps of Darwish Rasooli.
The game-changing moment came in the sixth over when Rashid dropped a sitter at long-on off Gayle. The Caribbean great was on 10 at the time and made the most of the largesse as he went on to crack 56 from 34 balls with four hits to the boundary and as many over it.
In a low-scoring match, Gayle was dropped twice – again on 37 – and Kabul didn’t stand a chance. It extended the great form in Sharjah of Gayle who entered the final on the back of three successive fifties.
Balkh chased down the target with four wickets in hand to lift the crown.
