Lahore Eagles beat Abbottabad Falcons by 15 runs in the Faysal Bank T20 Cup on Monday at National Stadium Karachi. Lahore Eagles scored 150 for four with Imran Farhat (43) being their top scorer. Taufeeq Umar scored a steady 36. In reply, Abbottabad Falcons were dismissed for 135 with three balls to spare. Opener Yasir Hameed, who scored a century a day earlier, added 44 before being stumped by Adnan Akmal off the bowling of Taufeeq Umar.
Earlier, in the second match of the day, Karachi Zebras pummeled Quetta Bears by 44 runs with major contribution coming from Khurrum Manzoor with and Danish Kaneria. Khurrum hit 62 runs in Zebras’ 172 runs for five and Danish later took three wickets to reduce Bears to 128 runs in 18.3 overs. Apart from Khurrum, Rameez Aziz, Anwar Ali and Akbar-ur-Rehman made healthy contributions for Karachi. Arun Lal with two wickets was the main striker for Bears. From Bears, only Fareed-ud-Din, Mir Waris and Abid Ali made their presence felt but that was not enough to bring them win and the team fell to Danish who took three wickets. Azam Hussain and Uzair-ul-Haq took two wickets each. In the first match of the day, Shoaib Malik led Sialkot Stallions to a comprehensive nine wickets win over Hyderabad Hawks on day two. Sarfraz Ahmed and Raza Hasan restricted Hyderabad to 96 runs taking four and three wickets respectively and later Malik cracked 50 runs in 52 balls to ensure an easy win for Sialkot. Hyderabad’s Shahzad Jamali and Rizwan Ahmed could come among runs when they made 42 and 30 runs respectively but none of the other players could move into double figures. In reply, Sialkot achieved the target in 16.4 overs with Malik playing the major role while he got support from Faisal Naveed from the other end who remained not out at 26.
Summarised scores:
Lahore Eagles vs Abbottabad Falcons:
Lahore Eagles 150/4. Imran Farhat 43. Taufeeq Umar 35. Wajid Ali 2-7.
Abbottabad Falcons 135 all out in 19.3 overs. Yasir Hameed 44. Yasir Shah 28. Junaid Zia 2-9, Mustafa Iqbal 2-24. Toss Lahore Eagles. Result Lahore Eagles won by 15 runs.
Sialkot Stallions v Hyderabad Hawks
Hyderabad Hawks 96 in 20 overs (Shahzad Jamali 42, Rizwan Ahmed 30, Sarfraz Ahmed 4-13, Raza Hasan 3-12). Sialkot Stallions 98-1 in 16.4 overs (Shoaib Malik 50, Faisal Naveed 26*). Result: Sialkot Stallions won by nine wickets. Toss: Hyderabad Hawks.
Karachi Zebras vs Quetta Bears:
Karachi Zebras 172-5 in 20 overs (Khurram Manzoor 62, Rameez Aziz 24, Anwar Ali 32, Akbar-ur-Rehman 23, Arun Lal 2-53).
Quetta Bears 128 in 18.3 overs (Fareed-ud-Din 24, Mir Waris 21, Abid Ali 26, Danish Kaneria 3-27, Azam Hussain 2-31, Uzair-ul-Haq 2-27). Result: Karachi Zebras won by 44 runs. Toss: Karachi Zebras. Umpires: Nadeem Ghauri and Ijaz Ahmed.
