Spirited Hyderabad Heroes players held on to their nerves to upstage the Badshahat of Lahore Badshahs, putting an end to the unbeaten streak of the Lahore team, by snatching a close six-run win in a nail-biting finish of the first of the best-of-three finals of the ICL Edelweiss 20s Challenge played at The Tau Devil Lal stadium here on Friday.
Chasing the feasible target of 144, Badshahs needed 12 runs in the final over which was bowled by former Pakistan all-rounder Abdul Razzaq, who turned out to be the nemesis for the Lahore team in the end.
Razzaq’s (12 ball 21 and 3/18) all-round performance against his compatriots made the difference in the end as he single-handedly took the match away for the grip of Badshahs.
The final over turned out to be dramatic one as Heroes’ Razzaq bowled three wides but he rapidly amended his act by getting Rana Naved-Ul-Hasan run out before cleaning up Mohammed Sami and Shahid Nazir, to seal victory in Hyderabad Heroes’ favour.
Earlier Hyderabad Heroes got off to a tardy start, as they could be able to score only 64 at the halfway mark with the loss of only two wickets. Former Australian player and Heroes opener Jimmy Maher struck 33 in 34 balls while his partner Razzaq struck a flashy 21 of 12 balls.
Promising Hyderabadi Ambati Rayudu was in good touch, but was the first among three batsmen who got run out after making useful contribution of 44 in 42 balls that included two sixes.
The middle-order failed to keep up the momentum with former South African all-rounder Justin Kemp wasted 20 balls for his 11 before being bowled by expensive Rana Naved-Ul-Hasan, who conceded 47 runs for Badshahs.
Stuart Binny (3) and skipper Chris Harris (8) couldn’t contribute much for their team as they both were run out.
In reply, Badshahs had a dismal start since they were three down with just 36 runs on the board after losing opener Imran Farhat (5), Humayun Farhat (12) and Hasan Raza (5) in quick succession.
Inzamam, who came at Raza's fall, straightaway smacked Nicky Boje for a towering six right over the bowler's head to ease down the pressure.
But it was all Inzamam could do as the Badshahs skipper (8) was caught and bowled by Stuart Binny, who had in his previous over scalped Raza.
Opener Taufeeq Umar held Badshahs fort but he was losing partners at the other end at regular intervals with the required run rate kept mounting. Badshahs, who had not tasted defeat in this tournament so far, were reeling after losing five wickets five for 65.
Naved Latif (11) too got out in similar fashion as Inzamam, but off the bowling of former New Zealander all-rounder Chris Harris.
Finally Taufeeq got some much-needed support from all-rounder Azhar Mahmood towards the end as the duo started the onslaught. However, just when the Badshahs looked all set to close in on their target, Taufeeq got run out by a direct hit from Maher having struck 34 in just 16 balls that included two sixes.
The eventual winner of this tournament will fetch Rs 2.5 crores while the runners-up will get an amount of Rs 1.25 crores.
Brief Scores: Hyderabad Heroes: 143/6 in 20 overs (Maher 33, Rayudu 44, Naved-Ul-Hasan 2/47) bt Lahore Badshahs: 137/9 (Mahmood 34, Taufeeq Umar 43, Razzaq 3/18)
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