Misbah-led Faisalabad clinch a thriller

Faisalabad Wolves pulled out a thrilling two-run win to book a place in the final of the Faysal Bank T20 Super Eight Cup here on Saturday evening.

Led by Pakistan captain Misbah-ul-Haq, Wolves batted to a low total of 125 runs but contained the Lions of Lahore at 123 for all.

Misbah playing against the national T20 captain Mohammad Hafeez, used what he has in his armory to keep Lions under the belt and thus won the match by two runs.

All the good work done by the Lions bowlers who contained Wolves for 125 runs was spoiled by their batsmen after Nasir Jamshed and Hafeeez extended a solid platform for Lahore.

However, the attack used by Misbah and the tight fielding of the Wolves kept the Lion in its den. Just for Nasir’s 46, Hafeez’s 36 and Sohail Ahmed’s 19, none of the Lions could reach the double figures and instead they have four ducks. Their last four wickets fell within the space of eight runs and in their entire innings there were four run outs. Ahsan Adil damaged the Lions batting with three wickets while Imran Khaid had two and Asad Ali one to keep their rivals total below 125.

Earlier, Hafeez having taken three wickets along with two by Adnan Rasool and one each by Aizaz Cheema, Zia-ul-Haq and Wahab Riaz saw the Misbah’s eleven wilt. Khurrum Shahzad with 27 was the highest scorer from their side with Imran Khali’s 20 being the second highest. When everyone was expecting Misbah to deliver he could only make 19 and Asad Ali was also bundled out for the same score. Farrukh Shahzad and Ali Waqas opened the innings to add 22 runs together and when the Wolves innings finished they played with an average of just above six runs an over and were believed to be thrown out. But Misbah proved much clever than his counterpart to pull a wonderful win and wait for the winner of the second semi-final between Sialkot Stallions and Rawalpindi Rams to play in the final on Sunday at 7 pm at the Gaddafi Stadium.

SCOREBOARD

Faisalabad Wolves

Farrukh Shehzad c Shehzad b Hafeez   18

Ali Waqas  b Zia          11

Khurram Shehzad c Rasool b Cheema  27

Misbah-ul-Haq c Wahab b Rasool        19

Asif Ali c Shehzad b Rasool      19

Jahandad Khan c Akmal b Hafeez        4

Imran Khalid not out     20

Mohammad Salman c Azmat b Hafeez  0

Ehsan Adil  b Wahab    0

Samiullah Khan not out 0

Extras (lb 3, w 4)          7

Total (8 wickets; 20 overs; 92 mins)     125

Did not bat Asad Ali

Fall of wickets: 1-22 (Farrukh Shehzad, 2.5 ov), 2-29 (Ali Waqas, 5.1 ov), 3-74 (Misbah-ul-Haq, 11.4 ov), 4-89 (Khurram Shehzad, 14.3 ov), 5-98 (Asif Ali, 15.3 ov), 6-107 (Jahandad Khan, 17.2 ov), 7-114 (Mohammad Salman, 17.6 ov), 8-114 (Ehsan Adil, 18.5 ov)

Bowling: Aizaz Cheema 4-0-28-1, Zia-ul-Haq 4-0-15-1, Mohammad Hafeez 4-0-30-3, Wahab Riaz 4-1-22-1, Adnan Rasool 4-1-27-2

Lahore Lions

Ahmed Shehzad c Salman b Asad Ali   5

Nasir Jamshed  run out (Samiullah)        46

Mohammad Hafeez lbw b Khalid          36

Umar Akmal st Salman b Khalid           5

Kamran Akmal c Salman b Adil            1

Ali Azmat c Salman b Adil        0

Sohail Ahmed c Jahandad b Adil           19

Wahab Riaz run out (Shehzad)  6

Adnan Rasool run out (Salman) 0

Zia-ul-Haq run out (Salman)     0

Aizaz Cheema not out   0

Extras (lb 1, w 4)          5

Total (all out; 20 overs; 103 mins)         123

Fall of wickets 1-13 (Ahmed Shehzad, 1.5 ov), 2-70 (Mohammad Hafeez, 8.6 ov), 3-85 (Umar Akmal, 10.5 ov), 4-89 (Kamran Akmal, 11.5 ov), 5-89 (Ali Azmat, 11.6 ov), 6-99 (Nasir Jamshed, 15.2 ov), 7-116 (Wahab Riaz, 18.3 ov), 8-122 (Sohail Ahmed, 19.2 ov), 9-123 (Adnan Rasool, 19.5 ov), 10-123 (Zia-ul-Haq, 19.6 ov)

Bowling: Samiullah Khan 4-0-32-0, Asad Ali 4-1-16-1, Imran Khalid 4-0-31-2, Khurram Shehzad 4-0-20-0, Ehsan Adil 4-0-23-3

Toss Faisalabad Wolves, who chose to bat

Series Faisalabad Wolves advanced

Player of the match Ehsan Adil (Faisalabad Wolves)

Umpires Riazuddin and Zameer Haider

TV umpire Akram Raza

Match referee Anwar Khan

Reserve umpire Saqib Khan