UFC beat KL Stars by 4 wickets

Match Update: UFC vs KL Stars – Game 5 of 7 Played on Sunday 10th April 2016 at Kinrara Oval, Puchong Toss: Won by KL Stars and elected to bat first

KL Stars Innings – 161 for 6 after 20 overs (Koji 21/2, Varun 39/2, Murad 12/1 & Jithin 13/1)

UFC coming to a phase where they need to win all the games to have any hopes of going through to the next stage of the tournament. Therefore every one of UFCians knew the importance of this game and everyone wanted to bounce back from the unexpected defeat week before. However UFCians were well known for bouncing back at the right time and coming hard at any team on the given day. Early in the day KL Stars skipper winning the toss elected to bat first. Having read the new Kinrara turf skipper decided to go with a spin and fast combination early in the stage. As expected the strategy worked for UFC with 2 important wickets were taken in the 1st 4 overs. It was brilliant bowling performances by Zahid and Varun who kept opponents for a score of 16 runs and taking 2 wickets at the end of 4 overs. Both the wickets were taken by Varun, where he sent the one of the openers in his second delivery and the other opener in his second over. However opponents recovered from the early blow with a 58 run partnership for the 3rd wicket where safe catch was taken by Skipper Ameen of Murad. At the time KL Stars were 67 for 3 in 10.3 overs. Murad bowled an excellent spell of 3 overs taking 1 wicket for 12 runs.

End of 14th over opponents were 101 for 3, Having 7 wickets in hand opponents were poised to score over 180 runs. With the reintroduction of Zahid to the attack, who bowled his first 2 overs for only 4 runs kept the batsmen guessing and pull back free flow of runs. He ended his spell of 4 overs for 21 runs, but he was unfortunate not to have a wicket or two under his belt. However Opponents accumulated another 69 runs partnership for the 4th wicket putting themselves into a strong position of 136 for 4 after 17.3 overs. The wicket came as a result of superb bowling display of the death bowlers. As a result Koji took a wicket not letting batsmen to have enough room to take him out of the park. Very next over Jithin bounced back with a wicket after he was smashed 8 runs in his 1st over. Opponents lost their 5th wicket at the score of 142 runs in 18.2 overs, and Jithin finished his excellent over limiting to 5 runs in the 19th over. Koji was called back to ball the final over of the innings and he manage to take another wicket (KL Stars 157/6 in 19.3 overs).

UFC Innings – 165 for 6 after 18.5 overs (Usman 74, Murad 41 & Shreejith 23*)

Importance of the first 6 overs was well recognized by the UFC batsmen as the pitch becomes slower at later stage. Therefore UFC batsmen in the top had many responsibilities on their shoulders to make the other batsmen life easier. However Usman took UFC to a flying start hitting the ball all over the park and all responsibilities took by himself as a warrior who never looked back to back down at any stage. Usman scored a tremendous 74 runs in just 32 deliveries where 1 delivery was put over the boundary line and 13 other deliveries crossing the line safely. Usman accumulated a 63 runs partnership with Murad just in 5.3 overs for the 2nd wicket. It was a little breather for the opponents when they took Usman out to put a stop on UFC run machine. UFC were 82 for 2 after 8 overs requiring another 80 runs in 12 overs having 8 wickets in hand. UFC played sensible cricket thereafter not taking many risks. Murad and Ali put up a solid 48 runs partnership in 6.1 overs (130 for 3 after 14.1 overs) when brilliant innings of Murad was concluded at 41 runs in 35 deliveries. Unfortunately soon after the 3rd wicket, Ali got himself out ending a well calculated and supporting innings of 11 runs in 14 deliveries. At the time UFC were 132 for 4 after 14.4 overs requiring another 30 runs in 32 deliveries with 6 wickets remaining.

While in the chase UFC lost another couple of wickets when they trying little hard to accumulate few quick runs but that didn’t stop Shreejith who made sure UFC crossing the target quite easily and most importantly without any further damage. Unbeaten 23 runs by him ensured a safe victory for UFC. It was well crafted victory for UFC and proving the theory of “Danger of a wounded tiger”. Anyhow UFC have another 2 more battles to be won as mentioned earlier to have any kind of hopes for a Semi Final spot on the MCA T20 Corporate League. UFC will play their next game on 30th April against Aetins at the same venue.

Man of the Match: Usman Hashmi

Result: UFC won by 4 wickets Scorecard: http://chauka.in/index.php/scoreboard/display_scoreboard/35633

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