KARACHI: Youngster Saad Ali played a gutsy innings to help Candyland register a thrilling one-wicket win over formidable KESC in their Cool and Cool corporate T20 tournament at the Moin Khan Academy here on Tuesday night.Batting conditions were very difficult and poor considering a T20 match was played on that strip. The ball has turned excessively so far in the tournament for the spinners and that was the case in this match as well. The ground is not very big but still teams have found the conditions difficult to post big scores.Batting first, KESC were left shell-shocked when at one stage they were reeling at 15 for five with plenty of overs left in their innings. Skipper Javed Mansoor made a responsible 25 to help his side post a paltry score of 87 all-out in 19.2 overs. Off-spinners Misbah Khan and Atif Maqbool claimed two wickets each.One would have expected Candyland to chase down easily but the match was turned on its head with Candyland struggling at 3-3 in the third over. But Saad Ali, an exciting left-hander, stayed almost till the end to guide his side to nail-biting win over much more stronger opponents. Saad impressed everyone with his performance on a pitch that was even difficult for Test batsman Yasir Hameed, as six of their batsmen got out without opening their accounts. Arif Mehmood, Shahzeb Khan and Fawad Khan took two wickets apiece.Umpiring standard was very poor as well, which largely played a big hand in KESC’s loss as a wrong no-ball was given when Saad Ali was clean bowled by left-arm spinner Fawad Khan, while several plumb lbw appeals were amazingly turned down by umpires Aziz-ur-Rehman and Akbar Khan.
