Falcon Hunters beat Swift Gallopers by 4 wickets to be crowned the champions of the inaugural season of the Qatar T10 League 2019. The tournament which started on started on December 7 and spanned over 10 days finally came to a close. In a low-scoring final, the Hunters kept their nerves and emerged winners by beating their opponents.
The Hunters chased down 86 needed to win in the penultimate ball of the match. With sixteen runs needed to win off the last over, Hunters skipper Iqbal Hussain hit a six off the fifth ball to help his team win the match. Sufyan Mehmood was given the tough task of defending the runs in the final over which he failed to do. Besides hitting the winning runs for his team, Iqbal also picked up two wickets with the ball and was adjudged the Man of the Match. Hunters wicketkeeper-batsman Mohammad Rizlan, was adjudged the Man of the series.
Earlier in the game, the Hunters won the toss and opted to bowl first. All the five bowlers used picked up wickets with spinner Murad Khan and skipper Iqbal Hussain picking up two wickets each. Gallopers skipper Kamran Akmal scored just 16, while top-order batter Ali Imran top-scored with 19 runs as the Gallopers were restricted to 85 for 7 in their 10 overs.
All in all, the first season of the Qatar T10 League was a decent success with cricket fans flocking into the stadiums to watch their teams play. Players like Hashim Amla, Kamran Akmal, Salman Butt, Mohammad Hafeez participating in the tournament is a sign of good things to come in the future.
However, while there were some positive signs, there are some areas which needs some rethinking to be done in the Qatar T10 League for the future. Four matches were washed out in total which included two semifinals as well. There were no reserve days for the knockout games which also meant that two out of the final four teams missed out on a final chance to make it to the final.
The management needs to have reserve days for the knockout games at least in the upcoming seasons. Moreover, they need to come up with ways to counter the rain threat. Teams losing out on getting a fair opportunity due to rain interruption is not good sign to keep up the competitive spirit of the game. Hopefully, the organizers can identify the areas where they did fall short and come out with better management ideas in the upcoming seasons.
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What the league was successfully was able to do was that it brought the game of cricket to the country and brought Qatar to the World map of cricket. The league was also successful in getting accredition from the International Cricket Council (ICC) which adds just that extra value to the league. More of cricket in the country will hopefully see Qatar getting ODI or Test status and play in the ICC tournaments in the near future.