LAHORE, Oct 8: Sialkot Stallions retained the RBS National Twenty20 Cup when they trounced Karachi Dolphins by seven wickets in the final at the Gaddafi Stadium here on Wednesday.

Useful knocks by Mansoor Amjad and Kamran Younis set up the victory which also enabled the Stallions to complete a hat-trick of titles. The final touches to their latest triumph were provided by the Malik brothers, Shoaib and Adeel, who remained together when younger brother Adeel scored the winning runs with two balls left after the Dolphins mustered a moderate total of 125 in their quota of overs.

Mansoor, who was forced to retire hurt due to a hamstring injury, struck 39 and Kamran hit 31. Shoaib, the Pakistan captain, and Adeel added 35 in the unbroken third-wicket stand after Mansoor (35 balls, four fours) left the crease with the total at 91.

Shoaib, who earlier took two wickets, remained unbeaten on 19, while Adeel was more aggressive as he made 23 off only 11 deliveries.

The Stallions lost Faisal Naveed cheaply in their chase before Kamran and Mansoor put on 42 for second wicket until Kamran, who slammed three boundaries, was run out after facing 37 balls.

Earlier, after opting to bat first, the Dolphins never got going as only Fawad Alam, who made a useful contribution of 40 off 31 balls with three fours, shone with some fine strokes. But he failed to get support from the other end as wickets kept falling at regular intervals. The left-handed Fawad was dismissed in the final over when he tried to hit over the top, but missed the line and was bowled by the left-arm fast bowler Sarfraz Ahmed.

Shoaib was declared the Man-of-the-Final and received the winners’ prize of Rs2.5 million on behalf of his delighted team-mates.

The Dolphins skipper Shahid Afridi collected the Rs1 million runners-up award.

Salman Butt and Sohail Ahmed of Lahore Lions were respectively declared best batsman and bowler of the tournament.

Naumanullah was adjudged best fielder while Ali Raza of Lahore Eagles, Salman Khan of Faisalabad and Sarfraz Ahmed of Karachi Dolphins were the joint winners of the best wicket-keeper award.

Scoreboard

KARACHI DOLPHINS:

Khurram Manzoor c Mansoor b Sarfraz 7

Khalid Latif lbw b Shoaib 15

Naumanullah c A. Rehman b Shoaib 14

Fawad Alam b Sarfraz 40

Shahid Afridi c Shoaib b Kamran 12

Sarfraz Ahmed c Ayub b Kashif 16

Tariq Haroon run out 1

Anwar Ali b A. Rehman 3

Tahir Khan run out 12

Sohail Khan not out 1

EXTRAS (W-4) 4

TOTAL (for nine wkts, 20 overs) 125

FALL OF WKTS: 1-19, 2-31, 3-45, 4-62, 5-90, 6-94, 7-102, 8-123,9-125.

DID NOT BAT: Malik Aftab.

BOWLING: Sarfraz Ahmed 4-0-23-2; Kashif Raza 4-0-16-1; Abdur Rehman 4-0-22-1; Shoaib Malik 4-0-29-2; Kamran Younis 4-0-35-1.

SIALKOT STALLIONS:

Kamran Younis run out 31

Faisal Naved run out 3

Mansoor Amjad retired hurt 39

Qaiser Abbas c Anwar b Afridi 5

Shoaib Malik not out 19

Adeel Malik not out 23

EXTRAS (LB-2, W-3) 5

TOTAL (for three wkts, 19.4 overs) 126

FALL OF WKTS: 1-17, 2-58, 3- 97.

BOWLING: Anwar Ali 4-0-33-0; Sohail Khan 3.4-0-19-0; Malik Aftab 4-0-20-0; Tariq Haroon 1-0-13-0; Shahid Afridi 4-0-19-1; Fawad Alam 2-0-12-0; Tahir Khan 1-0-8-0.

RESULT: Sialkot Stallions won by seven wickets.

UMPIRES: Aleem Dar and Nadeem Ghauri.

TV UMPIRE: Ahsan Raza.

MATCH REFEREE: Abdus Sami Khan.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Shoaib Malik.