Cricket
Nail-biting, heart-pounding, edge-of-the-seat and all the other adjectives aren’t enough to describe the intensity of the cricket competition witnessed at Red Bull Campus Cricket National Finals 2023.
The 10th edition of the Red Bull Campus Cricket ended Sunday in style as Jinnah Government College (JGC) took home the title with an easy 48-run victory over City University of Sciences and Information Technology Peshawar (CUSIT) in the final match of the Pakistan finals.
Defeating the University of Karachi in the Karachi qualifiers, JGC bowled over their rivals in a match full of amazing plays and surprises. But it wasn’t smooth sailing all the way. The JGC began the final by winning the toss and electing to bat first. At the beginning, things looked uncertain for JGC as they lost three quick wickets. However, they managed to post 175 runs, losing eight wickets in their allotted 20 overs.
The JGC scorecard included unbeaten innings from Muhammad Asad’s 83 off 53 balls striking nine fours and two sixes. He led the innings after three quick wickets fell with JGC coming down to 48-3.
Muhammad Asad was well supported but the opener Osama scored 42 off 23 balls hitting five sixes and a four before he was caught by Haris Khan on the ball off Zeeshan Hafeez in the 10th over. In the end, skipper Fahaddis Bukhari (12 off 11) and Khuzaima Bin Tanveer (14 off 11) made a valuable contribution to put JGC in a strong position.
For CUSIT, Haris Khan took three wickets for 26 runs, Zeeshan Hafeez took two for 29 while Israr Hussain, Nouman Zubair and Mamoon took one wicket each.
Chasing 176, CUSIT started off well as their first wicket fell on 74 runs. The opener Abdullah Zareen scored 49 off 33 balls alongside Sahibzada Abdullah scoring 31 off 21 balls.
After these wickets CUSIT was not able to stand on the wicket and were restricted to 127 in 17.2 overs with the help of Ammad Alam taking three wickets giving away just 11 runs in his three-over spell. Along with him the captain Fahaddis Bukhari and Khuzaima Bin Tanveer took two wickets each giving away 22 and 37 runs respectively.
Fahaddis Bukhari, the 25-year-old JGC captain, said that the success to their victory was the bond between the players from the beginning till the end of tournament.
“The team faced a challenge in the powerplay of the final as we were not able to take wickets, but eventually the match turned in our favor.”
Fahaddis Bukhari said that the team has the strong discipline that’s needed to win at such high-profile platforms. “As long as we have the discipline, the respect for the players and the game, the team will continue to win matches,” he said adding that the final was the toughest match of the tournament as the same team gave them a tough time in the group matches as well.
The team, which was initially struggling to complete their 15-member squad, continued their streak as all the players had already been playing together in their college. After winning the city qualifiers, they moved to Lahore where the sudden weather change was a challenge. However, they soon adjusted and kept their winning form.
The Jinnah Government College will now get a chance to play a cricket match with Peshawar Zalmi, and get a master class from their top players. For now, the JGC can run victory laps around the field to celebrate their new reign on the top as Pakistan champions.
PSL franchise, Peshawar Zalmi is in partnership with Red Bull Campus Cricket Pakistan 2022; serving as a talent hunt for the next edition of PSL.
