Super8 T20 Cup: Umar Akmal carries Lions through to semis

The 24-year-old’s 49-ball 95 gives defending champs 15-run win over Multan Tigers.

KARACHI: Lahore Lions secured their place in into the semi-finals of the Super8 T20 Cup as Umar Akmal inspired his side to a 15-run win over Multan Tigers at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad on Saturday.

The win was Lahore’s second in the group, with their third match against Karachi Dolphins being whitewashed, to go unbeaten through the group stages with five points. The Multan side, on the other hand, has lost all its three matches.

Opting to bat first, the strong Lions side set a daunting target of 180. The defending champions were propelled by Umar, who continued his rich of vein of form with another impressive knock of 95 not out off just 49 balls.

Zulfiqar Babar and Naved Yasin impressed for the Multan side, finishing with 1-19 in three overs and 1-28 in four overs respectively.

However, their batsmen fared better and were able to make 165-5 in their 20 overs but still fell 15 runs short of the target. Aizaz Cheema was the pick of the bowlers for the Lahore side, claiming three important wickets while giving away just 25 runs in his four overs.

Yasin followed up his dismissal of Lions skipper Kamran Akmal earlier on with an impressive unbeaten 68 off 39 balls to give some semblance of respectability to the scoreline and cap off a fine all-round display.

However, he was pipped to the man-of-the-match award by Umar for his 95. The 24-year-old attributed his performance to being able to play at his preferred position at two-down. “I usually play at this spot in first-class cricket but the credit goes to the entire team,” said Umar.

Despite the standout performance of his brother, winning captain Kamran was happier with the way every player chipped in. “We have a strong team and our target is to win the tournament,” Kamran told The Express Tribune.

Multan skipper Gulraiz Sadaf meanwhile bemoaned the lack of experience in his side. “Me and Yasin were the only experienced men in the batting line-up,” he said. “The other players were all young and were playing their first first-class event. We also made mistakes in fielding which caused us the game.”

Published in The Express Tribune, May 17^th, 2015.

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