A quick fire innings of 94 (54 balls) by opener Imran Farhat and later a spirited display of bowling by Azhar Mehmood (3 for 40) guided Lahore Badshahs to a 39-run win over Chandigarh Lions in the eighth match of the Indian Cricket League being played at Tau Devi Lal Stadium, Panchkula on Sunday.
After skipper Inzamam-Ul-Haq won the toss and chose to bath first,Lahore Badshahs were off to a flying start with both the openers Imaran Farhat and Imran Nazir blazing all guns. It was Farhat, who opened his account by hitting Andrew Hall for a boundary in the first over, who started the fireworks for Badshahs. Nazir too joined the party slamming Hall for a boundary in the same over before Imran Farhat opned the floodgates for Badshahs. Farhat first hit Tuffey for a four in the second over before he and Nazir launched an array of shots in the fourth over bowled by Tuffey. Farhat first hit Tuffey for a towering six before Nazir slammed two consecutive fours in the same over. Both the opners continued to deal in boundaries only as they took the Badshahs’ total to 51 for no loss before Nazir (16) top edged a Hall delivery to cover where TP Singh took a simple catch in the sixth over. But Farhat continued the assault on Lions’ bowlers and dominated the proceedings for the next ten overs. He first smotted Singh for a towering six in the 11th over before Tuffey dropped him at long off in the next over off the bowling of Dinesh Mongia thereby giving him the third six of his innings. Farhat was again into attacking mode in the next over itself smotting Singh for two consecutive sixes to take his individual score to 70 off 43 balls. He
was in sight of scoring the first century of the Indian Cricket League and again smashed Dinesh Mongia for two towering sixes and a four in the next over to take his score to 86. He did not even spare Lou Vincent who was brought into attack by Lions’ skipper and hoisted Vincent for a six. Humatayun Farhat too came into the attacking mode hitting Vincent for two sixes in the same over. It was Tuffey in the 16th over who put some brakes on Badshahs’ score removing danger man Imran Farhat who gave a simple catch to Singh at short fine leg. Tuffey struck on the very next ball as he removed Naved Latiff on zero knocking his stumps allover in the same over. But Humayun Farhat helped Badshahs to maintain the run rate as he scored a fluent 48 off 39 balls before Chetan Sharma took a simple catch at long off in the penultimate over bowled by Darryl Tuffey. Azhar Mehmood was bowled by Andrew Hall in the last over at an individual score of 5 before badshahs finished their innings at 187 for 6. Haq remained unbeaten on Chasing a stiff target, Chandigarh Lions were off to a bad start as they lost both their openers Mathew Elliot and Lou Vincent in the first over itself. Bolwing a tight line, Azhar Mehmood struck on the second ball of the Lions innings as he picked up Mathew Elliot (0) who gave a simple catch to Naved Ul Hasan at third man. Mehmood dealt a severe blow on the next ball as he snapped up Lou Vincent on the next ball as Inzamam took a simple catch at first slip to make it 0 for 2 for Chandigarh Lions. Manish Sharma and Singh then were associated in a 44-run stand for the third wicket. TP Singh was more into his stride as he first hit Mehmood for a towering six in the third over and then smashing two fours off Naved Ul Hasan in the next over. But Singh departed in the sixth over with Imran Farhat taking a simple catch off the bowling of Shahid Nazir. Nazir struck in his next over as he picked up a well settled Manish Sharma (20) who got a bottom edge onto his stumps with Lions being 55 for 4 in 7.1 overs. Saqlain Mushtaq struck another blow in the next over as he removed Chtean Sharma (2) who got a top edge while trying to sweep and gave a simple catch to Naved Ul Hasan at cover. Dinesh Mongia was then joined by Andrew Hall with Lions needing 127 runs in 11 overs. Both of them mostly dealt in singles and occasional boundaries as they took Lions’ total to 107 before Azhar Mehmood picked up his third wicket of the innings in the form of Dinesh Mongia ( 35) who gave a catch to Saqlain Mushtaq at long off. But with Lions needing 81 runs off 30 balls, it was always going to be a daunting task for the Lions. Andrew Hall (32) too fell in the 18th over as he was clean bowled by Mohammed Sami. In the end, Lions could manage 148 for 7 in the allotted 20 overs.