SUNRISE/FL – USA: Zishawn Qureshi’s upward trend continues on Sunday as the right-hander struck a whirlwind 72 against Spartans in the GCCL T20 tournament at the Central Broward Regional Park in Fort Lauderdale on Sunday.
Qureshi led the effort for Coconut Creek as they won the clash by 28 runs and will now play BCC Ignite to determine who meets Toofan in the championship match. Qureshi, who has gained a wealth of experience playing with international stars at the US Open T20 tournament, made the going look easy as he was quick off the blocks which gave his team an eventual 163/8 off their 20 overs. Spartans were not up to the fight and folded for 135 to lose the encounter.
Qureshi, who has been in a rich vein of form for the past eight months clobbered the bowling from the word go and counted 17 runs in the first over. This forced the Spartans’ bowlers to retreat which did not work in their favor.
The US All Stars captain looked a cut above the rest and whilst wickets tumbled at the other end he remained an imposing figure. At times Spartan came back into the contest and Qureshi was able to wrest control from them with his forthright batting. His 72, in the end, came off 39 balls and included six sixes and five fours which pleased those on hand including his father Mahammad Qureshi.
Not even USA national player Masood Mohammed was spared as his four overs of left-arm orthodox spin went for 37 runs. He still came back to collect three wickets but by that time Qureshi had already set the game beyond his team. Three other players from Coconut Creek got into double figures they were Zaheer Khan (17) Syed Hassan (15) and Naveed Ahmed (15).
Apart from Mohammed there were wickets for Nazim Ali 2/28 and Sameer Khan 2/27.
Then Spartans responded they found the going tough as the experienced Honey Gori and Asim Khurshid stifled the openers. They were not able to brack the shackles from that point and falling deep behind the required run rate the batsmen played injudicious shots which led to their downfall. In the end, the game was a pretty one-sided affair as Azeem Subhani 3/24 proved difficult.
Speaking on his performance Qureshi said: “I am just continuing my game the way I know best. What I was happy with was the fact that my fitness carried me through the innings. My fitness is improving daily and this will lead to even better performances. I have been in some good form for the past eight or nine months and I credit this with playing regularly. I am really happy to be out there in the Park during these times and using all the opportunities to improve my game.”
