Well folks, that's it from the live coverage of today's first game. Rajputs take home the earliest points of the 2018 T-10, and will do so with a gargantuan net run-rate.
Join us soon to know what's happening between Kerala and Pakhtoons, in the second contest of today's double header! Finish off your dinner, and be with us then! Until then, see ya!
Thisara Perera has a night to forget. Well so does everyone wearing the Karachian colours. Well, it makes me wonder now -what would have been a feasible winning total for them tonight? I guess it's an unanswerable question. Shahzad could have gone even more ballistic, he had an ideal company in Baz too.
That makes me wonder again - what if Shahzad completed three figures? How many balls would he have taken? At the current strike, a maximum of 22 balls. That could have shattered records! Well, hopefully that gives an idea of how amazing he was, tonight. Definitely there is not another contender for the man-of-the-match.
McCullum and men have arrived in style! Are the other teams taking a note of it?
The second innings lasted just 24 balls, yes - all it took for Rajputs to chase down what Karachians earned in 60 balls, was a mere 40% of the time. And they close the proceedings in record time. This game has to be one for the record books. Check the run-rate there: 24 runs per over!
I'm supposed to keep writing, but I'm absolutely speechless. Whoo! It was a whirlwind. Literal whirlwind. Look at Shahzad's numbers. 74 runs, 16 balls, six fours, eight sixes, just two singles, zero dot balls. McCullum played a sound knock of 21 from 8, including a four and two sixes, but it appears a dwarf in front of Shahzad the giant!
McCullum tries to join Shahzad, but the latter wants everything for himself. Four and a strike rotated, will all be what McCullum will remember. Three consecutive sixes by Shahzad, and it is game, set and match for the Rajputs. What a win!
Amazing over by Mohammad Shahzad. I'm feeling so lucky to have been able to watch it and do some commentary here. 30 RUNS! 3 SIXES, 3 FOURS! How often do you see that. Jofra is absolutely broken here. So are the Karachians, as Shahzad alone crosses 56 runs. Add the 16 from McCullum and we already know Rajputs are the winmers tonight.
Fifty for Mohammad Shahzad, in 12 BALLS ONLY! 5 sixes, 5 fours. What batting. This should be the fastest fifty in T-10 format games at an international level. We will check on that and follow up.
Shahzad with his second maximum, in a space of four balls. Brendon McCullum joins the party with two consecutive sixes of the last couple of balls. 23 runs from the over. Rajputs are almost halfway!
Now it is up to McCullum and co. to see if they can go back with the first win in the 2018 T-10, by getting to a score greater than 94 runs, within the available 60 balls. Karachian bowlers will have to work well to prevent that from happening.
Anyways, here begins the chase.
Mohammad Shahzad and Brendon McCullum take the crease for Rajputs. Mohammad Nawaz opens the bowling for Karachians.
Shane Watson (42) top-scored for the side, scoring almost close to 50% of the team total. Players like Devcich and Cutting had a start, but they didn't capitalize. Interestingly, the second top-scorer is "Extras" (10). Five batsmen including Devcich and Cutting fell for single-digit scores, Archer and Nawaz staying not out with one-digit values in their kitty as well.
7 fours and 5 sixes were seen in the innings, 4 of the fours and 3 of the sixes hitten by Watto alone. He did play like a true leader so far.
For the bowlers, Munaf Patel (2-0-20-3) led the tally, Brathwaite (2-0-11-2) and Sayed (2-0-16-1) also among the wickets. The Windies captain's spell not only elicited dismissals, but controlled the flow of runs as well.
So that's the end of the first innings. The Karachians started well and progressed well too, but somewhere between the sixth and ninth overs, the lost a bit of track to end at 94 runs. Had they preserved at least two of their wickets, the batsmen could have prevailed to take the score beyond 100.
We are halfway into the first innings. So far, the Karachians have done good enoigh despite the fall of two wickets. They are scoring at a run-rate close to ten per over.
Watson hits a four in the very last ball. Seven runs in total off the over, but a wicket as well. A good start for the Indian pacer who recently retired from the international scene.
A comeback of sorts by the Rajputs? Remember, an innings is just ten overs long.
Devcich opens the attack with a four off the first ball. He followed it up with another four in the fourth ball. Watson came into strike in the last ball, which was hit for another four.
Altogether 13 runs from the over. A good start for the Karachians.
Led by Shane Watson, Karachians will have some world-class T20 players like Anton Devcich, Jofra Archer, Ben Cutting etc. Rajputs, on the other hand, won't be having the services of Chris Lynn and Rilee Rossouw as they are already busy with Australia's T20I series against India and the Mzansi T20 league respectively.
In their absence, a lot of responsibility will fall on skipper Brendon McCullum's shoulders and the former New Zealand international will have Afghanistan wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Shahzad, Laurie Evans and Peter Trego to support him. On the bowling front, their bowling will be spearheaded by Mohammad Amir and Tymal Mills while Afghanistan spinner Qais Ahmed will look to win the game for his teams with his leg spin.
There are chances the first game of the tournament could feature two Indian players in action, Munaf Patel for Rajputs and Pravin Tambe for Karachians.
The wicket at the Sharjah stadium is expected to assist the batsmen and the team winning the toss would like to chase first.
Squads (from):
Karachians: Shane Watson (Icon Player), Anton Devcich (NZ), Ben Laughlin (Aus), Jofra Archer (Eng), Colin de Grandhomme (NZ), Ben Cutting (Aus), Mohammad Nawaz (Pak), Dawid Malan (Eng), Fawad Ahmed (Aus), Isuru Udana (SL), Joe Clarke (Eng), Samiullah Shenwari (Afg), Mohammad Irfan (Pak).
Rajputs: Brendon McCullum (Icon Player), Chris Lynn (Aus), Rilee Rossouw (SA), Mohammad Shahzad (Afg), Mohammad Hafeez (Pak), Tymal Mills (Eng), Carlos Brathwaite (WI), Rahat Ali (Pak), Samit Patel (Eng), Qais Ahmad (Afg), Ben Dunk (Aus), Shan Masood (Pak), Peter Trego (Eng)..
This season, as many as eight teams are taking part in the tournament and those eight teams are split into two groups with four teams each. Today, which also marks the first day of the 2018 T-10, will witness a double header, with Shane Watson's Karachians taking on Brendon McCullum's Rajputs to kick things off at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium in Sharjah, in another half-hour, followed by Kerala Kings facing Pakhtoons later, at 2215 hours.
We just had a look of the spectacular opening ceremony of the event a while ago, and hopefully, the next several days will see many performances reflecting the glowing spirit of the event.
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