National T20 Cup: Wolves tear into the Tigers

Faisalabad, Peshawar launch their National T20 campaign with convincing wins.

KARACHI:

Faisalabad Wolves launched their National Twenty20 Cup campaign in style as they thrashed Multan Tigers by 54 runs yesterday.

Saeed Ajmal was Multan’s destroyer-in-chief as Faisalabad posted 161 batting first. The off-spinner, the fifth bowler to be introduced in the chase, grabbed three wickets for just five runs off his quota to restrict Multan to 107 for nine. Gulraiz Sadaf top-scored with 32 and Zain Abbas contributed 28 in the losing cause.

Earlier, Wolves, led by Pakistan captain Misbahul Haq, were off to a flier, racing away to 57 in the sixth over when they lost their first wicket. A 42-run partnership followed between Asif Ali and Khurram Shehzad and although none of the batsmen were able to contribute, including Misbah, the Wolves reached a respectable 161 that proved to be enough with Ajmal’s wizardry in the bag.

Panthers outrun the Leopards

Umar Gul inspired his Peshawar Panthers to a 28-run win over Islamabad Leopards in their first match of the tournament.

Put into bat, the Panthers scored an imposing 150 off their quota with a late flourish by Gul at the end – a quickfire 20 with two sixes. Aftab Alam and Shoaib Khan, in the middle-order, added 43 in seven overs to lay the platform for a decent total. Zohaib Ahmed did take three wickets for the Leopards but did not get enough support to outwit the opposing batsmen.

In reply, Islamabad lost their first wicket in the first over and lost three more by the time they got to 19. They failed to recover from the shaky start as Gul, with Nauman Habib, dismissed the opposition for just 122 to get maximum points.

Stallions gallop into the semis

Earlier, five-time winners Sialkot Stallions roared into the semi-finals of the tournament with a thumping six-wicket win over defending champions Lahore Lions.

Sialkot, who had thrashed the Hawks a day earlier, were up against a strong Lions’ line-up that consisted of seven current or former national team players. With a strong batting line-up with him, captain Abdul Razzaq had no hesitation to bat first against a formidable Sialkot bowling attack.

However, promises were soon flatted and despair took over as unerring accuracy with the ball, complemented by good fielding, restricted the Lions to just 121, being dismissed in the final over of the innings. Rana Naved, out of national reckoning, was the destroyer-in-chief, grabbing three wickets while Razzaq remained Lahore’s highest score – a 33-ball 42 that gave his side’s total some respectability.

Sialkot eased past the target despite two early losses as Shakeel Answer and Shahid Yousuf put on 72. The Stallions will face Lahore Eagles in the semi-final on Saturday.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 29^th,  2011.