OLD Hararians beat Takashinga 1 by one wicket off the final ball at Takashinga Cricket Club on Monday. Ahsan Aqil Ali starred with both bat and ball and Alex Falao's unbeaten cameo saw the visitors home in the closest finish of the NPL T20 Blast so far.
Chasing 163, Old Hararians reached their target on the last ball of the 20th over with nine wickets down. Falao finished on 24 not out off 13 balls and Wallace Mubayiwa was on three not out at the other end.
Ahsan Aqil Ali was involved in almost every phase of the match. With the ball, he took 3/19 in four overs and also held two catches. With the bat, he top-scored with 43 off 40 balls, including three sixes, to anchor the chase.
Old Hararians won the toss and chose to field. Takashinga made 162/6, built around Ronak Patel's 59 off 37 balls (three fours, three sixes). Patel added 62 for the second wicket with Gerald Olipa (25). Ahsan Aqil Ali then removed Olipa, Patel and Samuel Muyambo and Takashinga slipped from 86/1 to 107/4.
Captain Roy Kaia made 27. An unbroken stand of 23 between Tashinga Makoni (11*) and Alvin Chiradza (8*) lifted the total past 160. Ainsley Ndlovu claimed 2/26.
Old Hararians reached 88/3 thanks to quick contributions from Huzaifa Syed (19 off 9) and wicketkeeper Clive Madande (26 off 14). Ahsan Aqil Ali and Luke Jongwe then took them to 120/4 after 15.1 overs.
Ryan Simbi then turned the match. In the 16th over, he dismissed Ahsan Aqil Ali, Muhammad Zaheer Tufail and Natsai Mushangwe without conceding a run, leaving Old Hararians at 120/7. He finished with 4/25, the best figures of the match.
Jongwe made 28 off 14 balls before Shelton Mazvitorera trapped him lbw at 129/8. Falao and Ndlovu added 27 for the ninth wicket. Mazvitorera removed Ndlovu with a return catch in the final over at 156/9, but the last pair scored the seven runs required.
Republished from NPL Zimbabwe · Austin Karonga. Original article.
