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Lahore wins first final

V.V. Subrahmanyam

AHMEDABAD: Opener Imran Farhat combined brute power with elegance was good enough despite a middle-order collapse to fashion Lahore Badshahs’s four-wicket win over defending champion Hyderabad Heroes in the first of the best-of-three finals at the Sardar Patel Stadium (Navrangpura) here on Thursday night.

With a 40,000-odd strong crowd lustily cheering on, Badshahs was off to a flier scoring 50 for one in 3.4 overs with opener Imran Nazir (26, 10 balls, 3x4, 2x6) treating fast bowler Syed Shahabuddin with disdain, hitting him for two huge sixes besides whipping one to the fence in the second over of the innings. But once Nazir departed mistiming a lofted stroke off Abdul Razzaq, it was a Farhat (65, 36 balls, 5x4, 5x6) show all the way. He slammed Shahabuddin over covers for a six and then swung him to the fence in his next over. Later, the southpaw hit the slow bowlers Indrasekhar Reddy and Nicky Boje for a six apiece to never really let Heroes come back into the game.

Shahabuddin had a miserable match, conceding 30 runs in his two overs besides dropping Farhat (then on 58) off Razzaq.

Middle-order collapse

In the end, Badshahs successfully survived a few twists and turns, losing Farhat, Inzamam-ul-Haq (5), Mohmmad Yousuf (11) and Shahid Yousuf (5) in quick succession to slump from 126 for two to 142 for six in 15.1 overs. Azhar Mahmood’s big six over mid-on off Razzaq in the 19th over and the winning boundary off Chris Harris were timed to perfection for Badshahs’s eventual victory.

Earlier, opener Jimmy Maher (45, 46 balls, 3x4, 1x6) and Abdul Razzaq (69, 49 balls, 6x4, 3x6) propelled Hyderabad Heroes to a challenging 170 for five.

Badshahs come back strongly in the final overs, conceding just 36 runs in the last five. But, Rana (three for 25) was the pick of the bowlers again, conceding just four runs in the last over besides picking up Razzaq’s wicket off the last ball.

The second final is on Saturday.

The scores: Hyderabad Heroes 170 for five in 20 overs (Jimmy Maher 45, Abdul Razzaq 69, Rana three for 25) lost to Lahore Badshahs 174 for six in 19.1 overs (Imran Farhat 65).

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