Rawalpindi Rams vs Karachi Dolphins Semi-final:
Players to watch out for
Rawalpindi Rams cruised to the semi-final as they won their two games on the trot, pretty convincingly. One of their victories came against the defending champions, Sialkot Stallions, which has surely given them a huge boost, ahead of their upcoming Semi-final
match against the Karachi Dolphins.
Hammad Azam:
Hammad Azam is a promising all-rounder who can be a future replacement for the ageing Abdur Razzak. Azam has already shown signs of great courage and maturity at http://www.senore.com/Cricket/A-Young-c41367 age of 19 years. The most important factor about his game is that he
is improving day by day and is proving to the selectors of http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-c755 cricket that he is good enough to wear the national cap.
The all-rounder with his medium-fast bowling can trouble even the best of batsmen around. He is tall and hits the deck hard to extract movement off the pitch. In addition to this, his batting has been the most impressive part of his all-round ability as
he has played some crucial and match winning knocks in pressure cooker situations. So, Hammad can also be vital for Pakistan team's search for a finisher in limited overs game.
He made his first class debut for Islamabad against Rawalpindi in 2008. Later, he was inducted into Pakistan's Under-19 team for World Cup in http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754. As expected, he really came of age in the U-19’s global event and his unbeaten 92 runs in the semi-final
against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/West-Indies-c760, while chasing a target of 213, was one of the best performances of the tournament. Hammad’s performance had single-handedly given Pakistan a ticket to the semi-final.
At the recent Faysal Bank T20 Cup, Hammad has once again been up-to the mark with some crucial performances. In the first match against Karachi Zebras, he although struggled with the bat, scoring just 5 runs but it was his bowling performance of 3/29 in
four overs which completely turned the match in favor of his team. As a result, Rams romped to a 28 runs victory.
Moreover, in the second match, this Rams all-rounder scored a brisk 37 runs of 24 balls which resulted in a team total of 197 runs. Hammad also fired with the ball. Although, his four overs did cost him 50 runs but his four wickets in the middle were a defining
moment for the game.
Dolphins will be well aware of this promising all-rounder as he can turn the game around, both with his bat and bowl.
Sohail Tanvir:
This Rawalpindi-born cricketer emerged on the scene at the 2007’s ICC World T20 Cup as a replacement for the mercurial fast bowler, Shoaib Akhtar. Since then, he has never looked back as he has improved his game by the passage time, though injuries have
broken his growth as an all-rounder.
Tanvir, with his wrong-footed action has made life difficult for the batsman. Facing him with his awkward action has become a challenge for the batsmen around the globe as his bowling style is also backed up by his vicious swing. In addition to this, he
is also a useful lower order batsmen as he can hit the ball a mile.
The left-arm bowler has been an integral part of his domestic team. Currently, in the ongoing T20 cup, Sohail has been one of the most responsible members of his team. As expected, he started the tournament with a quality all-round performance, by scoring
a quick fire 27 runs of 16 balls, and gathering 2/27. His performance earned his team victory and the Man-of-the-Match award for him.
However, in the 2nd match against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Sialkot-c842, Sohail did not contribute much as he bowled four wicket-less overs while giving away 33 runs. He also added only 15 runs to the total of 197.
Finally, Rawalpindi Rams will need the services of their top performers as they take on Karachi Dolphins in the semi-final.
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