Dolphins, Stallions, Leopards, and Lions in the Semis
The Dolphins, Stallions, Lions, and Leopards easily won their must win matches on the last day of the league games to seal a spot in the semi finals of the RBS National 20-20 Cup.
Group A
The Karachi Dolphins eased past the Abbotabad Rhinos winning their match by 6 wickets after bowling the Rhinos out for 96. The inexperiences Rhinos had no answer in front of the pace of Anwar Ali and Malik Aftab along with the spin and guile of Afridi and Faraz Ahmed.
Group B
Sialkot Stallions, the defending champions, easily chased their target of 143 against the Hyderabad Hawks as skipper Shoaib Malik and allrounder Kamran Younis hit half centuries.
Pacer Kashif Raza (2-24) and left arm spinner Abdur Rehman (2-24) had done well to restrict the Hawks to 142. Later Shoaib Malik (61* off 46) and Kamran Younis (65* off 56) came together to forge an unbeaten 113 run partnership for the 3rd wicket to take the Stallions into the semis with ease.
Group C
Multan Tigers, who had shocked the Panthers the day before, did well do get to 141 but could not restrict the Islamabad Leopards who chased the runs in 17.2 overs to improve their net run rate and qualify ahead of the Tigers and the Panters.
Shoaib Akhtar gave a much improved performance for the Leopards last night giving away only 14 runs in his 4 overs and picking up 1 wicket. U19 captain Imad Wasim (2-25) and the Leopards skipper Rao Iftikhar (2-36) did well to keep the Tigers down to 141.
Abdur Rauf and Kamran Hussain who had shocked the Panthers with their pace and swing could not keep the Leaopards quiet as domestic star Ashar Zaidi plundered an unbeaten 42 off 18 deliveries to take the Leopards into the semis.
Group D
In the last match of the night, the Lahore Lions beat the Rawal Pindi Rams by 21 runs as spinner Sohail Ahmed's 4-13 restricted the Rams to 150 as they chased 172 in pursuit of a semi final spot.
International openers Salman Butt (21) and Nasir Jamshed (23) had given the Lions an explosive start with a 43 run opening partnership in 5 overs, while Kamran Akmal ended the innings with a bang hitting 49 off 37 deliveries to take them to 171 in 20 overs.
Mohammad Yousuf failed for the 2nd time in a row scoring 10 runs before being run out.
Promising left arm pacer, Mohammad Aamer impressed again with figures of 3-13 for the Rams, while yesterday's hero Yasir Arafat went for 50 runs of his 4 overs.
Babar Naeem and Umar Amin started well for the Rams posting a 79 run opening partnership in 9 overs but then their innings fell through as Wahab Riaz (2-22) and Shakeel Ahmed (4-13) ran through the middle order.
The Semi Finals
Semi Final 1: Karachi Dolphins vs Islamabad Leopards
Semi Final 2: Lahore Lions vs Sialkot Stallions
Group A
The Karachi Dolphins eased past the Abbotabad Rhinos winning their match by 6 wickets after bowling the Rhinos out for 96. The inexperiences Rhinos had no answer in front of the pace of Anwar Ali and Malik Aftab along with the spin and guile of Afridi and Faraz Ahmed.
Group B
Sialkot Stallions, the defending champions, easily chased their target of 143 against the Hyderabad Hawks as skipper Shoaib Malik and allrounder Kamran Younis hit half centuries.
Pacer Kashif Raza (2-24) and left arm spinner Abdur Rehman (2-24) had done well to restrict the Hawks to 142. Later Shoaib Malik (61* off 46) and Kamran Younis (65* off 56) came together to forge an unbeaten 113 run partnership for the 3rd wicket to take the Stallions into the semis with ease.
Group C
Multan Tigers, who had shocked the Panthers the day before, did well do get to 141 but could not restrict the Islamabad Leopards who chased the runs in 17.2 overs to improve their net run rate and qualify ahead of the Tigers and the Panters.
Shoaib Akhtar gave a much improved performance for the Leopards last night giving away only 14 runs in his 4 overs and picking up 1 wicket. U19 captain Imad Wasim (2-25) and the Leopards skipper Rao Iftikhar (2-36) did well to keep the Tigers down to 141.
Abdur Rauf and Kamran Hussain who had shocked the Panthers with their pace and swing could not keep the Leaopards quiet as domestic star Ashar Zaidi plundered an unbeaten 42 off 18 deliveries to take the Leopards into the semis.
Group D
In the last match of the night, the Lahore Lions beat the Rawal Pindi Rams by 21 runs as spinner Sohail Ahmed's 4-13 restricted the Rams to 150 as they chased 172 in pursuit of a semi final spot.
International openers Salman Butt (21) and Nasir Jamshed (23) had given the Lions an explosive start with a 43 run opening partnership in 5 overs, while Kamran Akmal ended the innings with a bang hitting 49 off 37 deliveries to take them to 171 in 20 overs.
Mohammad Yousuf failed for the 2nd time in a row scoring 10 runs before being run out.
Promising left arm pacer, Mohammad Aamer impressed again with figures of 3-13 for the Rams, while yesterday's hero Yasir Arafat went for 50 runs of his 4 overs.
Babar Naeem and Umar Amin started well for the Rams posting a 79 run opening partnership in 9 overs but then their innings fell through as Wahab Riaz (2-22) and Shakeel Ahmed (4-13) ran through the middle order.
The Semi Finals
Semi Final 1: Karachi Dolphins vs Islamabad Leopards
Semi Final 2: Lahore Lions vs Sialkot Stallions
Is it on Ten Sports?
Shoaib Malik is leaving his mark on the tournament. In a way, I like this young man, he goes about his business without much fuss or noise.
Its on Geo Sports SB, not sure if u get it in India.
Not only Malik, but Afridi is also leaving his mark on the tournament.
Malik is probably Pakistan's most reliable batting talent at the moment and I just wish he can be left to concentrate on that. Let the captaincy be someone elses headache.
Q
Karachi Dolphins is the most balanced
domestic team, if you look at other teams either they are weak in bowling or they are weak in batting none of the other teams are balanced, Lions are too strong in batting but their bowling is quite weak, Wahab Riaz is not T20 material, Stallions also do not have any renowned name in their pace battery. I am disappointed by Islamabad they were a good team but I guess Shoaib's time is over its time for Sohail Khan, Rawalpindi had the best pace attack but they had the worst batting line up, I have been impressed by Mohammad Aamir he regularly took wickets and was was very economical, I wonder if he will get selected any time soon.
Dolphin's are favorites to win this tournament.