LAHORE – Pakistan Today clinched the Khayaban-e-Amin Media Cup Cricket Tournament in style here on Monday. The team was in-form and literally obliterated every team in the event, especially the tournament favourites Nawa-i-Waqt in the semi-final.
No team in the entire tournament was able to put up even the semblance of a challenge against the talented Pakistan Today outfit. Buoyed by their comprehensive win against title-favourites Nawa-i-Waqt in the semi-final earlier in the day, Pakistan Today thrashed value TV in the final by eight wickets.
Value TV team posted 48 for eight in the stipulated five overs. Pakistan Today achieved score in 4.3 overs for the loss of two wickets. Though Value TV managed to dismiss Pakistan Today’s big guns Ilyas and Shoaib cheaply, but Talat and Moneeb played with grit and conviction working in ones in twos to ensure victory for their team. The Pakistan Today cricketers, very much like the newspaper itself, stunned the entire media fraternity with a perfect fusion of professionalism, class and passion.
In what was billed as the ‘final before the final’, Pakistan Today thrashed Nawa-i-Waqt by the maximum possible margin in the game, 10 wickets. Pakistan Today’s bowlers Pervaiz, Ilyas, Muneeb, Talat and Ibrahim restricted Nawa-i-Waqt to just 39 runs. Indeed the Nawa-i-Waqt team had borrowed top cricketers from their other sister organizations most noticeably Anis and Waqas William from The Nation.
But Pakistan Today laid to rest their best laid plans by completely outplaying them in every department of the game. And in their chase the Pakistan Today openers Ilyas (15) and Shoaib (21) flayed Nawa-i-Waqt bowlers with impunity racing to the target without losing a wicket in the fourth over. In the entire tournament, Pakistan Today completely dominated their matches. Their middle order was not even put to test with the top order taking good care of the batting department.
Earlier, Pakistan Today defeated Ausaf which gave the title winners a bit of scare by posting 63 runs on board. But Pakistan Today openers Ilyas and Shoaib put the Ausaf bowling to sword reaching the target in the fourth over. Opener Shoaib hammered 31 runs with the help of three sixes and two fours in just 10 balls. Ilyas 13 (2×6) and Talat 11 not out helped them flatten Ausaf.
