England, India register win

England and India registered win in their respective match of the maiden ICRC International T20 Cricket Tournament for people with physical disabilities at Bangladesh Krira Shikkha Pratishthan (BKSP) grounds 4 and 3 respectively on Sunday. England beat Pakistan by 8 runs while India notched up an emphatic 6-wicket victory over Afghanistan.
Winning the toss, England elected to bat first and posted a massive total of 156 for 6 in 20 overs with opener Alex Hammond’s fifty plus score.
On their way to second successive win, England surpassed their previous score of 150 runs made against India, posting 156 in the match which is still the highest score of the tournament.
Alex Hammond knocked his first fifty in the tournament scoring 55 runs off 47 balls featuring six fours and one six.
Apart from his 55 runs, Hammond paring with Jamie Goodwin contributed 51 runs in 7.3 overs in the second wicket stand to carry the team total to 69 for 2 from 18 for 1.
After the departure of Hammond at 107/3, number four batsman Callum Flynn played an aggressive knock of 42 runs off 26 balls with one four and two sixes.
Skipper Ian Nairn hammered an unbeaten 25 runs off 18 balls with four fours while Goodwin scored run-a-ball 22. Nihar grabbed 2 wickets for 24 runs while Abdullah, Rao Javed and Fayyaz took one wicket each for Pakistan.
Pursuing a target of 157 runs, Pakistan finished their innings at 148 for 8 with Rehan Gani making 54 runs off 40 balls with six fours and one six.
Nihar Alam hit unbeaten 26 runs off 22 balls with one six. Jahanzaib Tawana scored 22 off 13 balls with one four and two sixes while Matloob Qureshi added 16 runs.
Callum Flynn, Fred Bridges and Alex Hammond grabbed two wickets each for 9, 28 and 30 runs respectively.
Alex Hammond was adjudged man of the match for his exquisite all-round display. In the other match, replying to Afghanistan’s 142 runs, India reached their target for 4 in 18.4 overs.
Number four batsman Ansul ensured his side to see their first win in the tournament scoring 67 runs off 52 balls featuring 11 fours. Ansul who was adjudged man of the match pairing with Krunal built up 77 runs in the third wicket stand in 10.1overs.
Krunal scored 29 runs off 33 balls with three fours while opener Yash Negi added 18 runs. Tofail and Abdullah took two wickets for 22 and 35 runs respectively.
Earlier, bating first after winning the toss, Afghanistan scored 142 runs for 9 in 20 overs. Afghanistan started well as the opening pair between Mohammadullah and Zubair piled up 74 runs in 7.4 overs, but later the lose the path.
Zubair scored team highest 42 runs off 25 balls with eight fours while Mohammadullah scored 33 off 22 balls with six fours. Nabiullah scored 32 runs off 29 balls with three fours while Hasibullah added 13 runs.
Dinesh grabbed three wickets for 20 runs while Krunal took two wickets for 25 runs for India. On Monday’s matches, hosts Bangladesh will play against Afghanistan at BKSP ground-3 while India face Pakistan at BKSP ground-4.