Pakistan TV’s bowlers walked out in Karachi needing to defend 40. Not 140, not even 90. Just 40. No side had ever protected such a thin target in the recorded 232-year history of first-class cricket. Two hours later Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) were all out for 37 and the record book had a brand-new line.
“We thought before entering the field that there’s a first time for everything and records are there to be broken,” fast-bowler Amad Butt told the PCB’s in-house channel. “But it was just a thought, not necessarily hope. We didn’t do anything special, just went out and did our best.”
Most of the heavy lifting was shared by Butt and left-arm spinner Ali Usman. Butt nipped out four, Usman six, the latter finishing with scarcely believable figures of 9.4-5-9-6. The entire chase lasted 19.4 overs, yet the emotional swings felt longer.
“As Amad said, we weren’t expecting to defend 40 runs,” Usman admitted. “But in the team huddle, we just said we’d try our best. We weren’t talking of victory, just of putting in the best effort.”
It started badly for SNGPL. Shan Masood, keen to break the tension, skipped down at Usman second ball and spooned a catch straight up. Butt thought that was the first genuine flicker of belief. “That’s when we began to hope,” he said. “But then the hope dissipated after a brief partnership again. It was on and off, but we couldn’t have said at any time we had things in our full control.”
At 22 for 7, victory looked academic. Then came what felt, in context, a stubborn stand worth 11. From 22 to 33, just seven needed, three wickets left. “For me it was momentum,” captain Shamyl Hussain recalled. “The way every wicket fell and the pressure began to build, what initially looked impossible began to look plausible. When Saif Bangash [the ninth wicket] fell, I began to feel confident they’d be dismissed because they were under so much pressure.”
Butt’s sharp catch at slip broke that stand, another nick soon followed, and suddenly the field closed in for history. Fittingly, the two bowlers combined for the last act: Shehzad Gul swung hard at Usman, the ball ballooned to deep midwicket, and Butt settled under it.
“I was keeping it simple,” Usman said. “We wanted to make them score every run. Not to give them a single easy ru”
The abrupt finish to Usman’s sentence somehow fits the match: unfinished, scarcely believable, still sinking in. Records exist to be broken, yes, but sometimes even the men who break them need a moment before they trust what they have done.
For the statisticians the numbers stand clear: PTV 111 all out, target 40, SNGPL 37. For everyone who watched, it was the reminder that in cricket even 40 can be plenty.
