Round-up of the Faysal Bank T-20 Cup games on December 4, 2012
ESPNcricinfo staff04-Dec-2012
ScorecardLahore Lions beat Islamabad Leopards by six wickets in yet another dominating performance that gave them their fourth win in a row. Leopards, on the other hand, had another forgettable day as they failed to construct any meaningful partnerships after choosing to bat. Aizaz Cheema and Wahab Riaz did most of the damage as they picked up three wickets apiece while being hard to hit for runs. Only one Leopards’ batsman – Imad Wasim – was able to get to 20 as the team was restricted to 104.It took Lions only 15 overs to comfortably overhaul the target, Ahmed Shehzad top-scoring with 56. Kamran Akmal and Umar Akmal both failed in this innings, but the chase was relatively easy and remained under control. Umar Gul, the Leopards captain, was expensive as he was taken for 38 runs off his three-over spell.
ScorecardPeshawar Panthers recorded their first win of the tournament with a 44-run mauling of Hyderabad Hawks at the Bagh-e-Jinnah in Lahore. Panthers chose to bat and were boosted by a 74-run stand for the second wicket between Nawaz Ahmed, who scored 53, and Iftikhar Ahmed that came off 45 balls. Two more useful contributions by Shoaib Khan snr (30 off 27 balls) and Akbar Badshah (39* off 24) ensured that the innings carried on the momentum till the end.Chasing 186, Hawks were dealt double blows by Azizullah in the first four overs, while the spinners – Zohaib Khan and Badshah – struck regularly to keep the Panthers ahead. Unable to increase the scoring, the Hawks folded on 144 off the last ball of the innings.
ScorecardAbbotabad Falcons’ Ahmed Jamal struck twice in two balls in the eighteenth over to trip Multan Tigers’ chase and win a low-scoring scrap by seven runs. Chasing 107, Tigers had stumbled at the start, but the innings was brought under control by a 36-run sixth-wicket stand between Naved Yasin and Zulfiqar Babar. Eighteen were required off eighteen balls when Jamal started the over, but in a deciding blow, he removed both set batsmen off consecutive ball, thus turning the chase on its head. The tail-enders who followed imploded under pressure during the last couple of overs and the Falcons completed a tight win. Jamal was the pick of the bowlers with 4 for 21. It was Jamal who had triggered the top-order collapse with two wickets in the fourth over.Put into bat, the Falcons had earlier struggled against Mohammad Irfan and Zulfiqar Babar and only an experienced 37-run knock by Younis Khan helped the team cross the 100-run mark.
ScorecardFaisalabad Wolves continued their unbeaten run in the tournament with a 17-run win over Rawalpindi Rams at the Bagh-e-Jinnah in Lahore. Faisalabad chose to bat and set up a strong platform for the middle order as they scored 83 runs by the eleventh over with the loss of only one wicket. Opening batsman Ali Waqas scored a half-century and shared a 49-run stand for the second wicket with Khurram Shehzad, who scored 33 off 19 balls with three sixes. However regular wickets meant that Wolves were restricted to 148.But Khurram struck early blows when he opened the bowling and received ample support from Saeed Ajmal and Asad Ali, and as a unit, the Wolves continued picking up wickets till the Rams were bowled out for 131 in the 19th over.
ScorecardQuetta Bears, winless in the tournament, fell to seven-wicket defeat to Karachi Zebras at the Lahore City Association Cricket ground. The bears chose to bat and were comfortably placed for a late surge at 114 for 2 in the 17th over. But three wickets in three balls, including one run out, derailed the innings as the Bears lost the last seven wickets for 11 runs. The spin duo of Haaris Ayaz and Faraz Ahmed shared three wickets apiece.The chase was led by opening batsman Fahad Iqbal who scored an unbeaten 53. He shared a half-century stand with Faisal Iqbal, who was retired hurt. Fahad shared another useful partnership with Saeed Bin Nasir that brought them to the touching distance of the target. Though Nasir was out for 23, the Zebras comfortably completed the chase in the 18th over.
ScorecardKarachi Dolphins posted their second win in the Faysal Bank T-20 Cup when they beat Lahore Eagles by three wickets in Lahore. The result has put the two sides on equal points although the Eagles are ahead on net run-rate at this stage.Batting first, the Eagles recovered from an early blow as captain Taufeeq Umar and Azhar Ali adding 40 runs for the second wicket. But the dismissal of the two batsman by the 11th over triggered a collapse that reduced them to 97 for 8 in the 19th over. Late hits by Saad Nasim, who was unbeaten on 28 off 21 balls, took them past the 100-run mark and gave the Karachi Dolphins a target of 114 runs. Offspinner Atif Maqbool took three wickets.In reply, the Dolphins also suffered a collapse at the top and middle order but remained in contention, thanks to Shahzaib Hasan’s run-a-ball 30. Anwar Ali saw the team home with two consecutive sixes off left-arm spinner Qaiser Ashraf in the penultimate over.
