KARACHI, March 8: Rana Navedul Hasan made his presence felt as Sialkot Stallions dethroned Faisalabad Wolves in a farcical Twenty20 Cup cricket championship final at the National Stadium.

Naved made telling contributions with both bat and ball in a match, which was sadly disrupted several times by crowd violence, before the Stallions emerged as deserving recipients of the US$20,000 winners’ cheque at 2.32am on Sunday.

The Stallions eventually won by six wickets after the Wolves were virtually prevented from achieving a reasonable total by a ridiculous 94-minute hold-up in play after they had reached 132 for four in 15.3 overs.

The long delay inevitably was a killer blow for the Wolves who finally limped to 152 for eight when the overs exhausted. The crucial phase of their interrupted innings yielded just 20 runs from the final 27 deliveries.

Watched by a crowd that gradually thinned out after security was strengthened, the Stallions lost four wickets for 87 runs in 11 overs to leave the match wide open at that point.

However, Shoaib Malik and Naved, the two Pakistan all-rounders, made certain of Stallions’ victory in a decisive partnership of 69 in 52 balls. Appropriately it was Naved who hit the winning runs when he pulled off-spinner Saeed Ajmal to the square-leg fence for his third boundary.

Naved, the dominant partner, also hammered three sixes –- off Samiullah Niazi, Saeed and Imran Khalid –- as he finished with 40 off 27 deliveries. And together with three for 37 earlier in the night, he was match referee Taslim Arif’s undisputed choice for the Rs20,000 Man-of—the-Match award.

Shoaib also played a vital hand in making a 21-ball 31, which included two boundaries after skipper Imran Nazir had set the tone in a blistering fashion by blasting 29 quick runs.

Imran, the former Test opener, unleashed five fours before heaving left-arm pacer Samiullah for one of the biggest sixes hit at this ground; the ball got lost after hitting the rooftop.

Imran’s 14-ball cameo came to an end by a brilliant piece of stumping from Mohammad Salman while standing up to medium-pacer Tauqir Hussain. Umpire Riazuddin didn’t bother to seek third umpire Iftikhar Malik’s assistance. TV replays vindicated field umpire’s excellent adjudication.

Shahid Yousuf was the Stallions man to shine with three sixes and one four in a 21-ball 30.

After being put into bat, the Wolves lost opener Mohammad Hafeez for 13. But the left-handed Imran Ali kept going at the other end. Imran struck five boundaries and a six to score 41 off 30 deliveries.

Skipper Misbahul Haq (33 off 35 balls, three fours) and Naved Latif (21 off 14 balls) were the Wolves’ other major contributors. Two of Naved’s three sixes were lost in the crowd and on each occasion the ball had to be replaced.

Shoaib and leg-spinner Mansoor Amjad took three wickets at the death to ensure it was a Stallions show.

A dejected Misbah collected the runners-up prize of $10,000 on behalf of the inaugural winners of the Twenty20 Cup.

Rana Naved scooped the Rs20,000 best fielder award for holding eight catches in the tournament while team-mates Shoaib (325 runs) and Hafiz Khalid (12 dismissals) were declared the best batsman and best wicket-keeper, respectively. Karachi Dolphins’ off-spinner Irfanuddin was adjudged the best bowler for taking 19 wickets.

Scoreboard

FAISALABAD WOLVES:

M. Hafeez c Shahid b Rana Naved 13

Imran Ali b Sarfraz 41

Asif Hussain c Qaiser b Rana Naved 16

Khurram Shahzad c and b Tahir 16

Misbahul Haq c Imran b Shoaib 33

Naved Latif c Mansoor b Rana Naved 21

Tauqir Hussain st Hafiz Khalid b Mansoor 4

Imran Khalid st Hafiz Khalid b Shoaib 0

Mohammad Salman not out 0

EXTRAS (LB-2, W-2, NB-4) 8

TOTAL (for eight wkts, 20 overs) 152

FALL OF WKTS: 1-25, 2-54, 3-78, 4-98, 5-137, 6-148, 7-152, 8-152.

DID BOT BAT: Samiullah Niazi, Saeed Ajmal.

BOWLING: Rana Navedul Hasan 4-0-37-3 (2nb, 1w); Sarfraz Ahmed 4-0-20-1; Mohammad Asif 4-0-32-0 (1w); Tahir Mughal 4-0-28-1; Qaiser Abbas 2-0-27-0; Mansoor Amjad 1-0-2-1; Shoaib Malik 1-0-4-2.

SIALKOT STALLIONS:

Imran Nazir st Salman b Tauqir 29

Tahir Mughal c Naved b Imran Khalid 15

Shahid Yousuf b Hafeez 30

Shoaib Malik not out 31

Qaiser Abbas c Sami b Khurram 0

Rana Navedul Hasan not out 40

EXTRAS (B-4, LB-7) 11

TOTAL (for four wkts, 19.2 overs) 156

FALL OF WKTS: 1-41, 2-67, 3-83, 4-87.

DID NOT BAT: Shahzad Malik, Mansoor Amjad, Hafiz Khalid, Sarfraz Ahmed, Mohammad Asif.

BOWLING: Samiullah Niazi 4-0-45-0 (1w); Tauqir Hussain 3-0-37-1 (2w); Saeed Ajmal 3.2-0-28-0 (1w); Imran Khalid 4-0-18-1; Mohammad Hafeez 4-0-22-1 (1w); Khurram Shahzad 1-0-2-1 (1w).

UMPIRES: Nadeem Ghauri and Riazuddin.

TV UMPIRE: Iftikhar Malik.

MATCH REFEREE: Taslim Arif.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Rana Navedul Hasan.