Nangarhar Leopards, balkh Legends, APL 2018
Nangarhar Leopards (Credits - Twitter)

The ongoing Afghanistan Premier League (APL 2018) is becoming as exciting as it can be. The 5th placed, Nangarhar Leopards thumped table-toppers, Balkh Legends to make the things interesting in match 17th of the tournament. It was a low-scoring affair where Nangarhar made a light work to seal the victory.

Nangarhar Leopards restricts Balkh Legends to 133:

Initially, it was Balkh Legends, who won the toss and wanted to look after their team while defending the tally. However, it didn’t turn out well, as Colin Munro and Dilshan Munaweera walked back for the cheap scores.

Rasooli and Ryan ten Doeschate looked in an excellent nick, who got the starts. But, unfortunately, they couldn’t quite capitalise them, who ended up putting Balkh Legends in a trickier position.

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Balkh Legends, Nangarhar Leopards, APL 2018
Zahir Khan. Credits: Getty Images.

However, the saviour, Ravi Bopara knocked 35 to his name to hand something for the bowlers to defend. Naveen-ul-Haq, Fazal and Zahir Khan bagged a couple of wickets each while Rahmat Shah picked Rasooli.

Andre Fletchers and Co finished the work:

In reply to the chase, Nangarhar’s Andre Fletcher and Anton Devcich added 61 runs for the first wicket. In particular, Andre Fletcher has been the chief destroyer, who scored a blistering 48 off 22 balls.

However, Naib had drawn curtains on his hopes to bring the fifty. Fletcher was quickly followed by Devcich, Charles and Rahmat Shah thus making the things interesting for Balkh Legends.

Andre Fletcher, APL 2018
Andre Fletcher scored 48 (Credits – Twitter)

Meanwhile, Shahidi and Shafiqullah held their nerves to complete the chase with a couple of overs left. All in all, it was a pretty one-sided affair with a few tense moments.

APL 2018, Match number 17 – Brief Scores:

Balkh Legends – 133/7 (Ravi Bopara 35; Naveen 2/21, Zahir Khan 2/24)

Nangarhar Leopards – 134/4 (Andre Fletcher 48, Shahidi 31; Qais Ahmed 3/19)

Match Result – Nangarhar Leopards beat Balkh Legends by six wickets and two overs to spare.

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