A quick fire innings of 94 (54 balls) by opener Imran Farhat and later a spirited bowling display by Azhar Mahmood (3 for 40) guided Lahore Badshahs to a 39-run win over Chandigarh Lions in the league match of the Edelweiss ICL 20s played at Tau Devi Lal Stadium here on Sunday.
Opting to bat, Lahore Badshahs were off to a flying start with both the openers Imran Farhat and Imran Nazir blazing all guns. It was Farhat, who started the fireworks for Badshahs opening his account by hitting Andrew Hall for a boundary in the very first over.
Nazir too joined the party by slamming Hall for a boundary in the same over before Farhat opened the floodgates for Badshahs.
Farhat first hit Tuffey for a four in the second over before he and Nazir launched an array of shots in the fourth over bowled by Tuffey. Farhat belted a towering six before Nazir slammed two consecutive fours in the same over.
Both the openers continued to deal in boundaries only as they took Badshahs' total to 51 for no loss before Nazir (16) top edged a Hall delivery to cover where TP Singh took a simple catch in the sixth over.
But Farhat continued with his assault on Lions' bowlers. He dominated the proceedings for the next ten overs. He first thudded Singh for a lofty six in the 11th over before Tuffey dropped him at long off in the next over off Dinesh Mongia’s bowling, giving him the third six of his innings.
Farhat was on rampage as he smotted Singh for two consecutive sixes to take his individual score to 70 off 43 balls in the next over. He was in sight of scoring the first century of the Indian Cricket League and again smashed Dinesh Mongia for two towering sixes and a four in the next over to take his score to 86.
He did not even spare Lou Vincent who was brought into attack by Lions' skipper and hoisted Vincent for a six. Farhat’s partner on the other end Humayun Farhat too lost his calm as he hit Vincent for two sixes in the same over.
Finally it was Tuffey who put brakes on Badshahs' scoring rate removing danger man Imran Farhat in the 16th over. Imran gave a simple catch to Singh at short fine leg. Tuffey struck once again on the very next ball as he removed Naved Latif on zero knocking his stumps allover.
But Humayun Farhat helped Badshahs to maintain the run rate as he scored a fluent 48 off 39 balls before Chetan Sharma took a simple catch at long off in the penultimate over bowled by Darryl Tuffey.
Andrew Hall cleaned up Azhar Mahmood in the last over on score of 5 before Badshahs finished their innings at 187 for 6. Skipper Haq remained unbeaten on 12.
Chasing a stiff target of 188, Chandigarh Lions had a disappointing start as they lost both their openers Mathew Elliot and Lou Vincent in the first over itself. Azhar Mahmood struck on the second ball of the Lions innings as he picked up Mathew Elliot (0) who gave a simple catch to Naved-Ul-Hasan at third man.
Mahmood dealt a severe blow on the next ball as he snapped up Lou Vincent on the next ball after Inzamam took a simple catch at first slip to make it 0 for 2 for Chandigarh Lions.
Manish Sharma and Singh then associated in a 44-run stand for the third wicket providing much-needed resistance to their team. TP Singh was more into his stride as he first hit Mahmood for a big six in the third over and then smashed two fours off Naved-Ul-Hasan in the next over.
But Singh departed soon with Imran Farhat taking a simple catch off the bowling of Shahid Nazir. Nazir struck in his next over as he picked up a well settled Manish Sharma (20) who got an inside edge onto his stumps with Lions being 55 for 4 in 7.1 overs.
Saqlain Mushtaq struck another blow in the next over as he removed Chetan Sharma (2) who got a top edge while trying to sweep ending up in Naved’s hands at cover.
Andrew Hall then joined Dinesh Mongia in the middle with Lions needing 127 runs in 11 overs. Both of them mostly dealt in singles and occasional boundaries as they took Lions' total to 107 before Azhar Mahmood picked up his third wicket of the innings in the form of Dinesh Mongia (35).
Mongia was well caught by Saqlain Mushtaq at long off. But with Lions needing another 81 runs off 30 balls, it was a daunting task for the Lions. Andrew Hall (32) too fell in the 18th over, as he was clean bowled by Mohammed Sami. Finally Lions could only able to manage 148 for 7 in their allotted 20 overs.
Brief Scores: Lahore Badshahs: 187 for six in 20 overs (Imran Farhat 94, Humayun Farhat 47, Imran Nazir 16, Inzamam-Ul-Haq not out 12, Andrew Hall three for 30, Daryl Tuffey three for 38) bt Chandigarh Lions: 149 for seven in 20 overs (Dinesh Mongia 35, Hall 32, Mahmood three for 30, Shahid Nazir two for 16).
TEAMS
Chandigarh Lions: Lou Vincent, Matthew Elliott, Tejinder Pal Singh, Dinesh Mongia, Manish Sharma, Chetan Sharma, Andrew Hall (C), Sarabjeet Singh (W), Love Ablish, Daryl Tuffey, Karanveer Singh.
Lahore Badshahs: Imran Farhat, Imran Nazir, Humayun Farhat (W), Hasan Raza, Inzamam-Ul-Haq (C), Naved Latif, Azhar Mahmood, Muhammad Sami, Saqlain Mushtaq, Naved-Ul-Hasan, Shahid Nazir.
|
|
Comments:
