Super 8 T20: Nauman, spinners inspire Sialkot to the final

19-year-old’s 43-ball 80 help Stallions to comfortable 65-run win over Karachi Dolphins

FAISALABAD: The scoreboard at the Iqbal Stadium at one point read ‘Sialkot Stallions 115-1, Nauman Anwar 80’. Nauman was dismissed soon after, triggering a collapse, but his one-man show at the start was enough to see his side through to the Super 8 T20 final.

The 168-run target proved out of Karachi Dolphins’ reach, who collapsed for just 102 in the first semi-final.

Muhammad Sami, standing in as skipper in place of Sarfraz Ahmed, won the toss and decided to field first. However, the decision backfired as a Nauman-inspired Sialkot went on the front-foot right from the get-go, scoring 59-0 in the six-over powerplay.

The 74-run opening partnership was finally dismissed when Faraz Ahmed’s arm ball deceived Mukhtar Ahmed and crashed into his stumps. The dangerous Bilal Asif, who had scored 114 in his last innings, walked out into the middle but was a mere spectator at the non-striker’s end as Nauman continued the assault— the 29-year-old Asif making just seven in the 41 the pair put on together to give the Sialkot side an impressive start of 115-2 in just 11.2 overs.

But once Nauman’s middle stump was dislodged following an ugly swipe off Faraz — an ignominious ending to a superb innings — the wickets began to tumble. Asif upped the ante to make 12 off 25 balls but holed out to deep cover on the next delivery with Faraz accounting for all of Sialkot’s top three.

Haris Sohail was then run out just two balls later and no batsman bar the top four managed to reach double figures as Faraz impressed with figures of 3-30 in his four overs — all other batsmen put together managing just six more than Nauman’s 80.

Going into the break on a high, having taken the last nine wickets for just 52 runs, the Karachi side would have been fancying their chances of making the final but suffered an early setback.

Shoaib Malik opted to give the new ball to a spinner and the move paid dividend straight away. On only the third ball of the innings, Fazal Subhan missed a Sultan Ahmed delivery and failed to drag his back-leg back. Ahmed Butt was unable to gather the ball cleanly but luckily for the wicketkeeper, the ball ricocheted off his gloves and onto the stumps.

Dolphins never really recovered from that early blow and kept losing wickets on regular intervals, with Asad Shafiq the next to go as a short ball by Bilawal Bhatti bounced off him and onto the bails.

The spinners were then introduced and the slow-bowling duo of Asif and Usama Mir wreaked havoc, with the latter yorking the dangerous Shahzaib Hasan to clatter into his stumps. The two spinners suffocated the batsmen with their tight line and length, forcing them into risky shots and kept picking up wickets; Asif claiming 3-20 and Mir 3-16 in their four-over quotas.

Nauman was awarded the man of the match for his superb innings, with the 19-year-old now looking forward to the final. “We go into the final full of confidence and will be looking to win the tournament,” he said, before lamenting the cancelation of the Champions League T20. “There will be no Champions League T20 to look forward to if we win the final so all our focus is on winning Monday’s match.”

His skipper Malik shared the same sentiments and also praised the support his side received from a vocal Faisalabad crowd, with the 17,000-capacity stadium nearly three-quarters full.

Losing skipper Sami, on the other hand, refused to criticise his players and instead acknowledged that the better side won.