Women’s tournament shows passion for cricket runs in both genders

Athletic Club claim title as turnout increased by the year

KARACHI: The girls of Karachi came out in numbers to showcase their cricketing talent at the Women’s Night Tournament, held annually in the month of Ramazan, as defending champions Athletic Club claimed a 43-run win against Knight Riders to get their hands on the silverware for the second year running at the Kokan Ground.

The three-day tournament organised by Khelo Kricket has become a regular fixture on the calendars of girls across the city looking for some healthy exercise during Ramazan.

With more teams in the tournament than last year, the competition was much tougher. Athletic Club, however, showed last year’s win was no fluke and claimed an emphatic 43- run win. Batting first, they scored 83 in their eight overs, before dismissing Knight Riders for a paltry 40.

In the previous matches, eight teams competed in two groups across the first two days of the tournament. The top two sides from each group reached the semi-final of the tournament — played on the final day.

In the first semi-final of the night, Knight Riders scored a whopping 113 runs in just six overs, claiming a 38-run win over Rockets.

In the second semi-final, Gigi Women Cricket Club were defeated by Athletic Club by 48 runs, who scored 97 runs in their first innings before dismissing their opponents for just 49.

Athletic Club claimed Rs50,000 as prize money, while Knight Riders received Rs25,000 as the runners-up.

The best bowler, best batsman and woman of the tournament received Rs5,000 apiece, while the woman of the match for all 15 games received an outfit by Image Fabrics and sports gear from Peachwear.

“This was a fun tournament. We don't often get opportunities to play night tape-ball cricket and this year more players participated, so the competition and the motivation to win was bigger. The prize money also helps to motivate us,” said winning team captain Rameen Shamim.

The top scorer of the tournament, Muneeba Ali, starred for Knight Riders throughout the tournament but revealed she has a lot of friends in Athletic Club. “We all play cricket in the same academy,” she said. “We all know each other and have been training together for years so to be divided into different groups and then playing against one another was a very different experience. I'm happy to have scored so many runs — it was tough since we all knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses.”

Meanwhile, woman of the tournament Sana Taj — also playing for Knight Riders — suggested that the next tournament could be played with a cricket ball rather than a tennis ball. “This was great! We hope the next one will be a hard-ball tournament since we think that would encourage more girls to come out and play proper cricket,” she said, adding that this year the tournament was better organised.

Co-founder of Khelo Kricket, Hadeel Obaid Rangoonwala, hailed the response she has received for the tournament. “This Ramazan we felt the teams were a lot more motivated to participate and the response was far better than what we had in the previous two editions,” she said. “The first edition had four teams, the second had seven and this one had eight.”

Hadeel believes the unique nature of the tournament is to be credited for its growing popularity. “Providing girls a space to play tape-ball cricket at night in Ramazan is a novelty, and I think that lured even more girls to participate this time around,” she added.