Premium Indians and Premium Paks registered comprehensive victories on Friday, December 22, in the ongoing American Premier League 2023, played at the Moosa Stadium in Pearland.
Premium Indians outplayed Premium Aussies to record their third consecutive win of the season. Fast bowler Amad Butt claimed a five-wicket haul, the third by a bowler in just seven matches of Season 2.
The Pakistan-born pacer's 5-25 held the Aussies at 97 for 9 after 20 overs. The Indians lost two early wickets of Kieran Powell and Ravi Bopara but Rajdeep Darbar's aggressive mindset helped them cross 50 in the powerplay.
Even though three wickets fell in the middle overs, the target wasn’t a monumental one that the Premium Indians would crumble under pressure. Sohrawordi Shuvo (11*) and Jeremiah Louis (6*) took them past the finish line in the 13th over.
A similar match unfolded in the earlier part of the day when Premium Paks thumped Premium Afghans by 10 wickets. Afghans were bowled out for 95 runs in 14.2 overs after a display of clinical bowling by the Paks bowlers, as the trend of low-scoring games continued in the American Premier League (APL).
In response, Paks openers Zeeshan Ashraf (39 off 23 balls) and Nicholas Ekwart (33 off 18 balls) went full throttle in the powerplay overs, hammering an array of boundaries (13 boundaries) to accomplish the meager target in just 6.3 overs.
On that note, let’s take a quick look at the updated run-scorers and wicket-takers following the action on Friday.
American Premier League 2023 Most Runs List
Ravi Bopara added just eight runs in his recent outing against Premium Aussies but that was enough for him to retain his top spot in the highest run-getters list in the American Premier League 2023, with no challenger for him at the moment. The former England all-rounder has scored 92 runs in three innings at a strike rate of 115.
Premium Windies batters Shawn Findlay (78) and Aaron Johnson (74) retained second and third spots in the charts respectively. Abdul Wasim moved one spot up to the fourth position while Raj Darbar entered the top five slots following his punches against Premium Aussies.
Meanwhile, Usman Ghani (Premium Afghans), Zeeshan Ashraf (Premium Paks), and Simi Singh (Premium Aussies) made their first appearances in the top 10 list.
American Premier League 2023 Most Wickets List
Premium Windies duo of Hayden Walsh and Raj Nannan remain in the first two spots with 10 and 9 wickets, respectively, even though they weren’t in action on Friday. Premium Indians leg-spinner Sunny Patel added one wicket against the Aussie to take his tally to six wickets and retain his third position.
Amad Butt’s fifer helped him not just enter the big list but also reckoned him as the contender to finish with the most wickets in the tournament. Butt has accounted for six dismissals in three games at an economy rate of 6.
Stephen Wiig added one wicket to cement his place at sixth in the table while Mario Lobban slid two places from fifth to seventh.
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