TAKASHINGA 2 Patriots star all-rounder, Antum Naqvi, had a fruitful tournament after collecting two individual accolades as well as the team trophy, cheque and medal following their win over Uprising in the National Premier League T20 Blast final at Harare Sports Club.
The Belgian-born and Australian-based cricketer was named player of the match for his 91 off 47 balls made up of seven boundaries and five maximums. The 24-year-old spinner also picked one wicket, the big one of Craig Ervine who was cruising nicely at a strike rate of 205.4 for his 37-ball 76 runs.
"It was a very close match, stress levels were high, but we pulled it off at the end, thanks to some good bowling, good death bowling," Naqvi told NewsDay Sport.
"When I came in to bat I had to tell myself, different wicket there's been more games played in the last three days on this wicket so I had to get used to the wicket. I was a bit slow; I was watching the ball a bit. As soon as I got used to it I went about my business.
"It was more about changing the pace (when bowling), I felt changing the pace on the wicket, some would turn, some would skid, unfortunately our fielding didn't do us justice we were a bit sloppy."
Naqvi was also named Player of the Tournament after accruing 55.93 points in the Most Valuable Player category. Uprising's Nick Welch was in second with a rating of 49.32 with Milton Shumba of Gladiators in third place on 46.20.
The Batsman of the Tournament was claimed by Welch for his 479 runs from 10 innings averaging 53.22. Antum came second best with 377 runs in seven innings and a healthy average of 62.83, the best among all the top batters. Shumba also made his mark with 317 runs from nine innings and an average of 39.63 to sit on third place. Takashinga 2 big hitter, Cephas Zhuwao, was in fourth place with 259 runs averaging 37.00 in seven innings while Clive Madande, Gladiators and Uprising's Aisha Chibanda were in fifth and sixth place with 250 and 232 runs respectively.
Naqvi, who is open to play for Zimbabwe, has let his performances do the talking across the First Class, 50 overs and the T20 formats.
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He has played five First Class matches for Rhinos and three T20s. Naqvi took five wickets; four for 22 runs in seven overs in the first innings and one in the second scoring an unbeaten 140 runs in the first innings on his First Class debut for Rhinos against Eagles in Kwekwe in January Rhinos went on to win that match by an innings and 133 runs.
