The tournament lived up to its reputation and provided for some awe-inspiring and thrilling cricket. -Photo by APP

The domestic Super Eight Twenty20 Cup 2011-12 was a star studded affair featuring almost all the familiar faces from the national team.

The tournament lived up to its reputation and provided for some awe-inspiring and thrilling cricket. Sialkot Stallions remained unbeaten throughout the tournament and emerged as the deserving winners under the leadership of Shoaib Malik.

The tournament was important in the sense that it was held ahead of the Fourth T20 World Championship scheduled to be held in September. It was keenly watched by the selectors as well as Dav Whatmore—the newly appointed coach of Pakistan. They must have taken note of some of the exciting youngsters who displayed their prowess in the shortest format of the game. One hopes that the T20 team selected for the World Championship is a combination of specialists who have the ability to tackle the best in the world. It must be kept in mind that majority of the competing players will be coming almost straight from the two-month grind of Indian Premiere League (IPL) and hence will already be in T20 groove.

The tournament featured some great individual performances. Openers Imran Nazir and Khalid Latif showed that they still have the consistency and the firepower to excel in this particular format of the game. Stallions’ left-handed middle-order batsman Haris Sohail was also a star performer and impressed with his ability to dominate the bowling while keeping his orthodox style intact.

In addition, batsmen like Ahmed Shehzad, Shahzaib Hasan, Umar Akmal, Asad Shafiq, Taufeeq Umar and Iftikhar Ahmed also showed their brilliance in patches. Stallions’ wicket-keeper-batsman Shakeel Ansar struck the only century of the tournament which took his team to the final. He, along with Peshawar Panthers’ keeper Gauhar Ali, impressed with athleticism behind the stumps. Shoaib Malik’s fluent half-century in the final and his five-wicket haul against the same opposition in an earlier round match made it evident that he is still the best all-rounder on the domestic circuit.

On the bowling front, it was an excellent tournament for the slow left-armers. Stallions’ Raza Hasan was the leading wicket-taker of the tournament with 12 wickets. The last over bowled by him in the final was probably the difference between the two sides. His four wickets in that over not only stalled the Dolphins’ progress but also prevented the in-form Khalid Latif from getting the strike. Other slow left-arm bowlers who impressed during the tournament were Raza Ali Dar of Lahore Lions, Mustafa Iqbal of Lahore Eagles, Faraz Ahmed of Karachi Dolphins, not to forget the veteran Abdul Rehman who was simply impossible to get away. Off-spinner Adnan Rasool also bowled with guile and took wickets at vital stages to prevent the opposing batsmen from scoring freely.

Among the fast bowlers, young pacemen Zia-ul-Haq of Lahore Lions, Emmad Ali of Lahore Eagles and Anwar Ali of Karachi Eagles bowled with hostility. Umar Gul—captaining his native Peshawar Panthers—bowled his heart out but was unable to take his team past the semi-final stage; however, his incisive opening spell against the fancied Lions was one of the highlights of this tournament.

Some of the biggest disappointments of the tournament included spin wizard Saeed Ajmal, young guns Umar Amin and Rameez Raja Jr and the experienced fast bowling quartet of Mohammad Sami, Tanvir Ahmed, Wahab Riaz and Sohail Tanvir. Saeed was highly ineffective and was taken apart by the Lahore Lions batting powerhouse. Umar Amin was the cornerstone of Rawalpindi Rams’ batting during last year’s Super Eights and this year’s T20 National Championship. He had been the nucleus around which the team’s batting revolved and impressed with his ability to pace the innings; unfortunately, he was an abject failure this time around.

Rameez’s explosive batting during the previous two T20 tournaments earned him a place in Pakistan’s T20 team against Zimbabwe last year; however, he also appeared off colour throughout this championship. Despite their experience, Sami, Tanvir, Sohail and Wahab were unable to make regular inroads during the tournament and even failed to stem the flow of runs at crucial junctures of the tournament. Sohail—who had emerged as one of the most intelligent captains last year—failed miserably in motivating his talented team. Abdul Razzaq’s bowling also witnessed a sharp decline. Shahid Afridi, Misbah-ul-Haq, Mohammad Hafeez and Fawad Alam were conspicuous by their absence.

It was heartwarming to see packed houses at the Pindi Cricket Stadium on almost all the days. Although it is still too early to invite foreign teams to Pakistan but the public enthusiasm definitely proved that regional domestic cricket—if marketed properly—has the potential to generate fan following.

The one negative of the tournament was the live television commentary. At times, it was painful to hear the experts harping endlessly about the new chairman of the PCB and his initiatives. The non-stop mantra had reached a point where the proceedings on the ground almost seemed to have become irrelevant to the commentary panel. Perhaps it is time for the media bosses to introduce some rules and regulations that can govern the quality and ethics of live commentary.