The difference: 51 is the number of runs Mubashir and Hussain put on for the fifth wicket in just five overs to guide Bahawalpur home. PHOTO: PCB
KARACHI: A superb unbeaten half-century by Faisal Mubashir guided Bahawalpur to the main round of the National T20 Cup as they defeated Lahore Blues by six wickets in the first semi-final of the Q8 T20 Cup 2015-16 at the Pindi Stadium on Saturday.
Bahawalpur will join the 10 teams already in the main round of the National T20 Cup set to begin from September 8.
Chasing 153, Bahawalpur reached the target with three balls to spare as man-of-the-match Mubashir struck 51 runs off 37 balls. Mubashir was involved in a crucial unbroken partnership of 51 off just 30 balls with skipper Kamran Hussain, who scored 27 off 17.
Openers Shahan Akram and Muhammad Yasir scored 22 and 24 runs respectively to give the chasing side a good start early on. Four Lahore bowlers took a wicket apiece, with off-spinner Agha Salman being the pick of the bunch with figures of 1-23 in four overs.
Batting first, Lahore Blues were restricted to 152 for the loss of eight wickets in their allotted 20 overs despite getting off to a superb start that saw them threaten to run away with the game early on. However, Mohammad Imran and Shahan Akram bowled impressively to rein in the Lahore side with figures of 2-20 and 2-19 respectively in their four overs.
Lahore’s young teenage openers — Imamul Haq and Sami Aslam — impressed with scores of 39 off 32 balls and 35 off 23 balls respectively. Despite the loss, their performance will encourage many, with the duo expected to feature for both club and country in the future.
“The win is a team effort,” said winning captain Hussain after the match. “Faisal as always did a brilliant job and performed superbly.”
Meanwhile, losing captain Adnan Akmal was left ruing his side’s poor fielding. “It is said catches win matches; we dropped a few and ended up losing,” he said. “I told the players earlier that if we keep our fielding tight we will win, but unfortunately we were weak in the field and a bit in the bowling as well.”
Published in The Express Tribune, September 6th, 2015.
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