LAHORE: Defending champions Sialkot Stallions wasted little time in galloping into the third Faysal Bank Super Eight T20 Cup semi-finals as they crushed Multan Tigers by nine wickets in a truncated Group ‘A’ match at the Gaddafi Stadium here on Friday.
After rain prevented the game to get under way at the scheduled 10:00am starting time because of Friday’s prayers, the match officials decided to curtail the fixture to a 14-overs-a-side affair after 70 minutes were lost due to fickle weather.
With the conditions heavily weighed in favour of bowlers, the Tigers had the misfortune of losing the toss and facing the inevitable consequence of a surface where batting was hazardous. The reduction in the number of overs didn’t help their cause as their innings never got the momentum to challenge the Stallions’ stronghold on the proceedings.
The luckless Tigers lost nine wickets in mustering mere 47 runs with Kashif Naved (14 off 28 balls) the solitary batsman to reach double digits.
Slow left-armer Raza Hasan’s rehabilitation from a serious back injury went well as the youngster snared three wickets in first half of the Tigers’ innings. The remaining wickets taken by bowlers went to the Malik brothers with two of them captured by Adeel’s leg-breaks.
Shoaib Malik, the Stallions’ captain, then ensured a swift end by casually striking six boundaries in making 31 off 20 deliveries as his team won with no less than 45 balls to spare. Malik and Raza were declared joint recipients of the Man-of-the-Match.
The Stallions’ runners-up finish behind pool winners Lahore Lions guaranteed them a last-four clash against Rawalpindi Rams later on Saturday evening. —Sports Reporter
Scoreboard
MULTAN TIGERS:
Zeeshan Ashraf run out 4
Sohaib Maqsood st Shakeel b Raza 0
Zain Abbas c Umaid b Raza 3
Rameez Alam run out 2
Gulraiz Sadaf c Ayaz b Raza 4
Saeed Anwar Jr st Shakeel b Adeel 4
Kashif Naved st Shakeel b Shoaib 16
Rizwan Haider lbw b Adeel 0
Zulfiqar Babar run out 8
Aamir Yamin not out 2
Rahat Ali not out 2
EXTRAS (LB-1, W-1) 2
TOTAL (for nine wkts, 14 overs) 47
FALL OF WKTS: 1-1, 2-6, 3-9, 4-10, 5-14, 6-24, 7-24, 8-39, 9-43.
BOWLING: Raza Hasan 3-0-11-3; Shoaib Malik 3-0-12-1 (1w); Rana Naved-ul-Hasan 2-0-8-0; Abdur Rehman 3-1-5-0; Adeel Malik 3-1-10-2.
SIALKOT STALLIONS:
Shoaib Malik not out 31
Shakeel Ansar b Zulfiqar 7
Shahid Yousuf not out 7
EXTRAS (B-1, LB-1, W-1) 3
TOTAL (for one wkt, 6.3 overs) 48
FALL OF WKTS: 1-11.
DID NOT BAT: Ayaz Tasawwar, Adeel Malik, Mansoor Amjad, Ali Khan, Rana Naved-ul-Hasan, Abdur Rehman, Raza Hasan. Umaid Asif.
BOWLING: Zulfiqar Babar 3-0-18-1 (1w); Rahat Ali 2-0-15-0; Saeed Anwar Jr 1-0-4-0; Sohaib Maqsood 0.3-0-9-0.
RESULT: Sialkot Stallions won by nine wickets.
UMPIRES: Riazuddin and Shozab Raza.
TV UMPIRE: Saqib Khan.
MATCH REFEREE: Anwer Khan.
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Raza Hasan and Shoaib Malik (shared).
