Pakhtoons down Maratha Arabians to go top of Super League

South Africans Colin Ingram and Cameron Delport starred in Pakhtoons' eight-wicket win over Maratha Arabians in a T10 Super League match at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Wednesday night.

The win puts them on top of the Super League standings after collecting eight points, while Marathas are second on six.

Coming together with the team needing 63 from 32 balls, the pair remained undefeated as they surpassed Marathas total of 125 with four balls to spare.

Ingram was unbeaten after playing a belligerent unbeaten 42 which came from only 13 balls and was studded with five maximums and two fours. Giving him good company was Delport on 36 from 23 balls with two fours and two sixes.

Prior to them it was wicket-keeper Shafiqullah Shafiq whose set the ball rolling during the chase by striking 35 from just 16 balls with four massive sixes and a four. This was after they lost their star batsman Andre Fletcher. The tournament's top scorer with 215 runs could add only 10 more runs to his tally, as he was bowled by Roelof van der Merwe.

Maratha Arabians were riding high after their crushing defeat of Rajputs in their previous match. Having reduced them to 63 for 7, the lowest in a T10 format, they achieved those runs in five overs.

Pakthoons, on the other hand, too came into the match after drubbing Bengal Tigers by seven wickets.

Pakthoons had topped their Group A, while Maratha Arabians had finished third in Group B before entering the Super League stage.

Earlier, Maratha Arabians, put into bat, lost both openers - Hazratullah Zazai (4) and Alex Hales (6) in quick succession.

But Najibullah Zadran and Kamran Akmal went on the offensive. Najibullah was the first to depart but his 36 from 14 balls (three sixes and two fours) gave the Marathas some confidence and Akmal built on it to hit 25 from 14 (1 six and two fours).

Meanwhile, Pakhtoons dropped a couple of catches of these two batsmen, otherwise the story would have been different.

Later Brendan Taylor and Rashid Khan threw their bats around for some quick runs to take their team to 125 for 6.

Brendan remained unbeaten on 23 from 12 balls with a six and two fours and Rashid was run out of the last ball for 21 from only seven balls with two sixes and an equal number of fours.

Brief scores

Maratha Arabians 125 for 6 in 10 overs (Najibullah Zadran 36, Kamran Akmal 25, Brendan Taylor 23 not out, Rashid Khan 20; Liam Dawson 2-23, Mohammad Irfan 2-17) Pakhtoons 126 for 2 (Colin Ingram 42 not out, Shafiqullah 35, Cameron Delport 36 not out). Man of the match: Colin Ingram.

clareto@khaleejtimes.com