The Double Wicket Championship sponsored by Pepsi and organized by Abbas Kazim of Interlink Worldwide provided a week of thrill and excitement to the people of Lahore. Held at the Gaddafi Stadium under floodlights, it provided the spectators a pleasant relief from the scorching early summer heat.

It may be recalled that 4 tournaments of this nature have been held in Pakistan during the recent past. Some outstanding pairs from other cricket playing countries have participated but somehow it's always been Pakistan that triumphed in the end. The reason could only be the home players are able to derive the advantage of home conditions to the maximum.

This year the tournament had 8 teams, 3 from Pakistan and 5 from abroad. Surprisingly, the championship ended in a stunning upset, when Pakistan's 3rd pair, youngsters Imran Nazir and Shoaib Malik triumphed to win the final. They defeated the favorite 1st pair of Wasim Akram and Yasir Arafat by 2 runs. Yasir had stepped in for Shahid Afridi who was away due to his mother's death.

The 1st pair called `Pakistan Blues' batted first and hammered 87 runs, Wasim Akram (44) and Yasir Arafat (42) in the stipulated 8 overs, in a brilliant display of shots all over the field. In reply the Pakistan Whites replied with a dazzling 89, Imran Nazir (45) and Shoaib Malik (37) thus defeating the pair of senior colleagues and grabbing the trophy along with the winner's purse of US $6000.

The salient feature of the final was that none of the two teams lost a wicket, thereby preventing the loss of 10 runs for each dismissal. Since the prime objective of staging such tournaments is to provide the highest level of entertainment to the crowd, it is admirable that the players chose the path of sensible slogging. They hit enormous fours and sixes to enthrall the crowd without throwing their wickets.

Earlier in the night an almost packed house witnessed an exciting semi final between the pair of Abdur Razzaq and Azhar Mahmood called `Pakistan Greens' and the champions. Batting first, the Greens posted 100 runs with Azhar Mahmood setting the stadium on fire hitting 73 runs with the help of five mighty sixes and seven boundaries. His partner Abdur Razzaq contributed only 20. Deducting the fine for two dismissals, the net score was adjusted to 80.

Chasing the target with absolute courage and determination the champion pair of Imran Nazir and Shoaib Malik won the thrilling contest on the spin of a coin. In a hectic struggle for victory the pair was only 3 runs short of the target with 3 balls remaining but Shoaib Malik was out on the 4th ball and his side lost 10 more runs. With such an untimely loss, no one could imagine that the pair could emerge victorious. On the two balls remaining Shoaib Malik smashed 2 huge sixes to make it a `tie'. The organizers decided the fate of the match by spinning a coin and Imran called it right!

In the 2nd semi final the Pakistan Blues duo of Wasim Akram and Yasir Arafat defeated the New Zealand pair of Craig McMillan and Chris Harris to land in the finals.

The tournament provided 4 refreshing evenings to the cricket crazy fans of Lahore. The other most conspicuous feature of the competition was the superb display of fielding by youngsters chosen from local clubs. Their pick-up of the ball and throwing was excellent. The flying catches that they took could put the Pakistan team to shame.

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