KARACHI, March 8: Sialkot Stallions stormed into the final of the ABN-Amro One-day Gold League Cup after cruising to a five-wicket win over Rawalpindi Rams at the UBL Sports Complex here on Thursday.
The Stallions’ fifth victory in their last league match was set up by Qaiser Abbas who bludgeoned a 96-ball 95 with eight fours and three sixes. Qaiser and Mansoor Amjad (56 off 75 balls, five fours) added 130 for the second wicket as their team chased down a target of 245.
Earlier, the Rams made 244. The highlight of their innings was a hurricane 99 by Babar Naeem. His 86-ball knock contained no less than eight sixes and three gours.
Scoreboard
RAWALPINDI RAMS:
Mohammad Wasim c Qaiser b Sarfraz 5
Babar Naeem c Khalid b Rehman 99
Ali Sarfraz c Khalid b K. Dawood 21
Naveed Qureshi c Bilal b K. Dawood 6
Usman Saeed b Mansoor 13
Tahir Rauf c Sarfraz b Shahid 25
Sohail Tanvir lbw b Sarfraz 34
Munir Ansari not out 19
Yasim Murtaza run out 1
Najaf Shah run out 3
Akhtar Ayub c Sarfraz b K. Raza 15
EXTRAS (W-3) 3
TOTAL (all out, 50 overs) 244
FALL OF WKTS: 1-24, 2-98, 3-124, 4-133, 5-163, 6-181, 7-214, 8-221, 9-225.
BOWLING: Sarfraz Ahmed 10-0-42-2; Kashif Raza 9-0-52-1 (1w); Kashif Dawood 10-0-44-2; Mansoor Amjad 7-0-41-1; Qaiser Abbas 1-0-5-0; Abdur Rehman 10-1-42-1 (2w); Shahid Yousuf 3-0-18-1.
SIALKOT STALLIONS:
Qaiser Abbas lbw b Sohail 95
Atiq-ur-Rehman c Tahir b Najaf 7
Mansoor Amjad c Ali Sarfraz b Akhtar 56
Shahzad Malik lbw b Akhtar 1
Shahid Yousuf c Yasim b Munir 22
Bilal Hussain not out 44
Abdur Rehman not out 5
EXTRAS (B-1, LB-6, W-5, NB-5) 17
TOTAL (for five wkts, 44.1 overs) 247
FALL OF WKTS: 1-11, 2-141, 3-143, 4-186, 5-226.
DID NOT BAT: Hafiz Khalid, Kashif Raza, Sarfraz Ahmed, Kashif Dawood.
BOWLING: Akhtar Ayub 8-0-35-2 (1w); Najaf Shah 7-0-40-1 (2nb, 1w); Yasim Murtaza 10-0-53-0 (1w); Munir Ansari 7-0-49-1 (1w); Babar Naeem 5.1-0-34-0 (1w); Sohail Tanvir 7-0-29-1 (2nb).
RESULT: Sialkot Stallions won by five wickets.
UMPIRES: Salim Badar and Iftikhar Malik.
MATCH REFEREE: Taslim Arif.
OFFICIAL SCORER: Salman Hussain.