KARACHI: Dera Murad Jamali Ibexes made a startling entry into the Faysal Bank T20 Cup on Friday when they snatched a dramatic 11-run victory to upset the aspirations of Younis Khan’s Abbottabad Falcons in a five-over encounter at the Pindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi.

Thursday’s blank day caused by intermittent rain in the twin cities forced a late start to the matches on Friday. The original noon starting time was held up by 140 minutes of wait as the wet outfield was being dried up.

Despite losing three quarters of the overs there was lot of entertainment in the Group ‘D’ fixture. Despite not being a normal T20 game, things moved so quickly in the 10 overs possible after action began at 2:20pm.

The first instance of magic was when Younis set an excellent example for his Falcons’ team-mates. A well-timed jump saw the former Pakistan captain take a brilliant catch at mid-off to send back ex-Test batsman Mohammad Ayub Dogar – one of the guest players in the Ibexes’ line-up – to give paceman Fazle Rabbi his second wicket in the second over of the game.

The Ibexes did extremely well in the difficult circumstances to get 35-5 against decent bowling line-up featuring the likes of Junaid Khan, Ahmed Jamal and Yasir Shah after losing the toss and told to bat first by Younis.

The Falcons, in reply, paid dearly for their lethargic running that resulted in Younis and Hammad Ali losing their wickets.

Yasir Hameed, who is still remembered fondly for those two centuries in his debut Test against Bangladesh more than 10 years ago, was the only batsman to enter double figures from either side in the first over of the meagre run chase.

The Ibexes celebrated a famous result when their guest representative Kamran Sajid grabbed two wickets from the final three deliveries to claim the man-of-the-match award.

Saturday’s fixtures:

Islamabad Leopards v Peshawar Panthers (Diamond Club Ground, 11:00am); Hyderabad Hawks v Larkana Bulls (Marghazar Cricket Ground, 11:00am); Karachi Dolphins v Quetta Bears (National Cricket Ground, Islamabad, 11:00am); Lahore Lions v Bahawalpur Stags (Pindi Cricket Stadium, 12:00pm); Rawalpindi Rams v Fata Cheetahs (Pindi Cricket Stadium, 4:00pm).

Scoreboard

DERA MURAD JAMALI IBEXES:

Kamran Sajid b Yasir Shah 4

Imran Khan b Fazle 0

M. Ayub Dogar c Younis b Fazle 8

Taimur Ali st Hammad b Yasir Shah 3

Abid Ali not out 7

Sanaullah c Hammad b Junaid 8

Asif Ali Mengal not out 0

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-1, W-3) 5

TOTAL (for five wkts, 5 overs) 35

FALL OF WKTS: 1-4, 2-13, 3-18, 4-23, 5-33.

DID NOT BAT: Faizullah, Najaf Shah, Atif Jabbar, Shabbir Ali.

BOWLING: Ahmed Jamal 1-0-3-0; Fazle Rabbi 1-0-11-2 (2w); Khalid Usman 1-0-3-0; Yasir Shah 1-0-9-2; Junaid Khan 1-0-7-1 (1w).

ABBOTTABAD FALCONS:

Yasir Hameed c Abid b Shabbir 11

Hammad Ali run out 0

Adnan Raees b Najaf 2

Younis Khan run out 1

Riaz Kail c Asif b Kamran 8

Khalid Usman c Sanaullah b Shabbir 0

Yasir Shah c Asif b Kamran 0

Shakeel Ahmed not out 0

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-1) 2

TOTAL (for seven wkts, 5 overs) 24

FALL OF WKT: 1-1, 2-12, 3-13, 4-18, 5-18, 6-24, 7-24.

DID NOT BAT: Junaid Khan, Ahmed Jamal, Fazle Rabbi.

BOWLING: Faizullah 1-0-10-0 (1w); Najaf Shah 1-0-3-1; Atif Jabbar 1-0-1-0; Shabbir Ali 1-0-8-2; Kamran Sajid 1-0-1-2.

RESULT: Dera Murad Jamali Ibexes won by 11 runs.

UMPIRES: Masood Khan and Zameer Haider.

TV UMPIRE: Tahir Hussain.

MATCH REFEREE: Mohammad Anees

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Kamran Sajid.