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KARACHI, Dec 26: Discarded Pakistan opener Imran Nazir made a welcome return to form when he piloted Sialkot Stallions to a crushing nine-wicket win against Lahore Lions in the second semi-final of the ABN-AMRO Twenty20 Cup at the National Stadium here on Monday.
Imran hammered an undefeated 76 off 59 balls as the Stallions cruised home by scoring 120 for one in 17.1 overs in what proved to a one-side encounter.
The Lions, led by prolific Test batsman Mohammad Yousuf, had no answer to the star-studded Stallions bowling line-up featuring Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Mohammad Asif and Abdur Rehman.
Naved was simply magnificent in his four-over spell in which he conceded mere nine runs and picked up three wickets. In addition, the Pakistan pacer brilliantly ran out opener Kashif Siddique on his follow through in the first over of the game.
Asif claimed the vital wicket of Test wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal while Abdur Rehman, the slow left-armer, took two wickets despite being hit for a brace of sixes.
Adnan Raza, who was forced to retire after being struck a painful blow on his arm by Asif, made a valiant 32 off 33 balls. Yousuf, who was due to leave for Saudi Arabia along with Shahid Afridi on Tuesday morning to perform Hajj, scored a 16-ball 22.
Man-of-the-Match Imran, who stroked nine fours and one six, then starred in the opening stand of 103 with Pakistan all-rounder Shoaib Malik before the latter was stumped for a 34-ball 31. TV umpire Rasheed Bhatti made an excellent adjudication to give Shoaib out despite the awkward angle of the replay.
Scoreboard
LAHORE LIONS:
Kashif Siddique run out 1
Nasir Jamshed b Naved 16
Kamran Akmal lbw b Asif 3
Mohammad Yousuf c Qaiser b Tahir 22
Rashid Riaz lbw b Naved 0
Adnan Raza b Rehman 32
Ali Azmat c Mansoor b Shoaib 9
Salman Qadir b Shoaib 2
Wahab Riaz b Naved 15
Wasim Khan c Shoaib b Rehman 1
Imran Ali not out 2
EXTRAS (B-2, LB-4, W-8, NB-2) 16
TOTAL (all out, 19.3 overs) 119
FALL OF WKTS: 1-4, 2-17, 3-25, 4-25, 5-46, 6-51, 7-85, 8-115, 9-119.
BOWLING: Rana Naved-ul-Hasan 4-0-9-3; Mohammad Asif 4-0-24-1; Tahir Mughal 4-0-26-1 (1w); Shoaib Malik 4-0-30-2 (1nb, 4w); Abdur Rehman 3.3-0-24-2 (1w).
SIALKOT STALLIONS:
Imran Nazir not out 76
Shoaib Malik st Kamran b Kashif 31
Shahid Yousuf not out 5
EXTRAS (B-1, LB-3, W-2, NB-2) 8
TOTAL (for one wkt, 17.1 overs) 120
FALL OF WKTS: 1-103.
DID NOT BAT: Shahzad Malik, Mansoor Amjad, Qaiser Abbas, Tahir Mughal, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Hafiz Khalid, Abdur Rehman, Mohammad Asif.
BOWLING: Wasim Khan 3-0-25-0 (1w); Wahab Riaz 3-0-29-0 (1w); Kashif Siddique 4-0-16-1; Imran Ali 3-0-30-0 (1nb); Salman Qadir 2-0-8-0; Ali Azmat 2-0-7-0; Mohammad Yousuf 0.1-0-1-0.
RESULT: Sialkot Stallions won by nine wickets.
UMPIRES: Shakeel Khan and Zameer Haider.
TV UMPIRE: Rasheed Bhatti.
MATCH REFEREE: Anwar Khan.
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Imran Nazir.
