Dubai: The DAV Chandigarh team from India crashed out of the Red Bull Campus Cricket World Finals after being beaten in a last-over thriller against the University of Karachi team from Pakistan by four wickets in the playoffs.
In the second play-off played at the ICC Academy on Friday, DAV Chandigarh won the toss and chose to bat first in this must-win encounter against the University of Karachi.
India got off to a great start and posted a competitive total of 164/3 on the board in their 20 overs, courtesy star batsman Treykash Bali scoring a magnificent 81 off just 70 balls, which included 6 fours and 5 sixes. He was well supported by his opening partner Ripin Chaudhary who scored 44 in 38 balls.
In the run chase, Pakistan got off to a shaky start and lost early wickets. However, middle-order batsman Mahmood Ali played a match-winning knock of 69 off 44 balls and a late 15 ball 34 cameo by Hamza Qadir propelled the Pakistan team to victory in an exciting last over finish despite some excellent bowling by Pankaj Sharma and Himanshu who picked up two wickets each.
DAV Chandigarh had earlier made a brilliant start to the tournament as they outclassed ULA Bangladesh by mammoth 101 run victory in their first game of Group A. They followed this with a clinical performance against MCC University Leeds Bradford of England and beat them by 33 runs.
However, after defeat against University of Pretoria of South Africa by 62 runs in their last group game, they finished as runners up setting up a clash against arch-rivals Pakistan which they eventually lost.
