There were sixes aplenty as cricket took a tentative step into the world of winter sports with the Ice Cricket Challenge in the Swiss Alps.
Some modern greats of the game faced off for a T20 match in the resort town of St Moritz in temperature far below zero degrees.
The match was played on a frozen, snow-covered lake on an artificial turf carpet, with players using traditional cricket gear and a red ball, but wearing normal sports shoes rather than spikes.
Mohammad Kaif and Shoaib Akhtar were a part of the action, while Virender Sehwag and Shahid Afridi captained the respective teams.
Sehwag wasn’t undone by the unusual conditions, hitting five sixes as he scored 62 at a strike rate of 200 while Andrew Symonds finished with 40 as Diamonds XI finished with 9-164 from 20 overs.
Former England cricketer Owais Shah was the match-winner, however, hitting five sixes in his innings of 74 as Royals XI won the match with almost five overs to spare.
But during the game, Mohammad Kaif managed to get an edge over Shahid Afridi.
Kaif, who was a part of the Sehwag’s team, caught Afridi on the bowling of Ramesh Powar in the 2nd innings. Afridi had to walk back to the pavilion with a score of duck to his name. Albeit Afridi had the last laugh as his team won the match, Kaif took a cheeky dig at Afridi after the game.
In his tweet, Kaif mentioned that Afridi found the wrong fielder yet again. This was in reference to the fact that Kaif has caught Afridi on quite a few occasions in international cricket before. He further sent his good wishes to Afridi for the latter’s win in the match.
“You picked the wrong fielder again @SAfridiOfficial 🙂 But great fun playing on ice for the first time and well played to your team,” Kaif tweeted.
You picked the wrong fielder again @SAfridiOfficial 🙂 But great fun playing on ice for the first time and well played to your team. pic.twitter.com/P2uNiGeqnJ
— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) February 8, 2018
