Ahmed Shehzad's 78 off 49 deliveries ensured that the Lahore Lions made it to the semi finals of the Faysal Bank Super 8 T20 Cup unbeaten as they defeated Hyderabad Hawks by 8 runs in their final league game.

The Karachi Dolphins demolished the Faisalabad Wolves today by a whopping 124 runs to become the first team to qualify for the Faysal Bank Super 8 T20 Cup Semi Finals.

Youngsters continue to shine in the on going Faysal Bank Super 8 T20 Cup, with yet another power packed performance by Zain Abbas in Multan Tigers' upset win over the Karachi Dolphins today.

Khalid Latif, the Pakistan under 19 world cup winning skipper, who played a couple of ODIs for Pakistan last year, knocked a superb double century in today's RBS Cup game between the Karachi Dolphins and the Quetta Bears.

Batting first, the Dolphins piled on 364-2 in their 50 overs with Khalid carrying his bat and scoring an unbeaten 204.

Khalid faced 163 deliveries for his knock and smashed 19 boundaries and 7 sixes.

This is the 2nd double century in domestic one day games in Pakistan, following Mohammad Ali's effort of 207 in the 2004-05 season.

Khalid's score is also the 5th highest score in all List A cricket and will fit in between Alvin Kallicharan's and Alistair Brown's in this list.

Khalid, who is captaining the dolphins in the ongoing RBS Cup, continued his good form in the competition with his 204* following his match winning 105 in the previous match against the Rawal Pindi Rams.

You read it here first!

The Sialkot Stallions completed a hatrick of domestic 20-20 titles as they beat the Karachi Dolphins by 7 wickets in the final of the RBS National 20-20 Cup last night.

Shahid Afridi won the toss and elected to bat first but the Dolphins' batsmen struggled against the pace of Sarfaraz Ahmed (2-23) and the spin of Shoaib Malik (2-29).

Besides Fawad Alam, who scored 40 off 31 deliveries, none of the batsmen got going as the Dolphins' innings closed at 125-9 in 20 overs.

Khalid Latid (15 off 16), Naumanullah (14 off 19), Afridi (12 off 9), and Sarfraz Ahmed (16 off 10), all got starts but none of them could build on them.

The Stallions got off to a good start with Kamran Younis (31 off 37) and Mansoor Amjad (39 off 35) easily scoring off the Dolphins' bowling.

As soon as Afridi came on though, the tide turned as the Stallions' scoring rate dropped and they lost a few wickets, but 125 was never going to be enough.

Brothers Shoaib Malik (19*) and Adeel Malik sealed the game for the Stallions in the last over of the innings as Adeel smashed an unbeaten 23 off only 11 deliveries with the help of 2 sixes and a boundary.

This was the Stallions' 3rd victory in a row in the domestic 20-20 championship and they now join the champions and the runners up from the IPL, Australia, South Africa, and England in the inaugral 20-20 Champions League to be held in December.

Shoaib Malik, the Stallions' captain, was declared man of the match for his 2 wickets and unbeaten 19 at the end of the innings.

Salman Butt was declared the best batsman of the tournament - with 152 runs from 3 innings, he was the highest run scorer in the tournament.

Sohail Khan, who created domestic records with his bowling last season, got the best bowler award for his 6 wickets in 4 matches even though his Dolphins skipper, Shahid Afridi ended as the highest wicket taker in the tournament - 7 at an average of 11.28.

Afridi's Dolphins failed to win the title, ending as runners up for the 2nd time in a row and this win definitely puts Shoaib Malik ahead if him in the captaincy race.

The Dolphins and the Stallions both won their semi finals against the Leopards and Lions respectively to set up a repeat of last season's domestic 20-20 cup final.

The Final - Preview

Tonight, the Shahid Afridi led Dolphins will take on the Stallions, who are led by Shoaib Malik and are also the defending champions.

Afridi will be eager to add a 2nd title to his cap after leading the Karachi side to the Pentangular Cup title earlier this year.

Afridi will also be looking to avenge the loss the Dolphins faced at the hand of the Stallions in the same final last season.

Afridi did not play that final as he had left for Hajj just a day before, but he was instrumental in taking the Dolphins that far.

Tonight, Afridi will be keen to prove a point and get one up on Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik.

It is no secret that Afridi has been lobbying for the Pakistan captaincy, while Malik has been trying to get Afridi out of the Pakistan team.

This rivalry between Afridi and Malik will definitely be witnessed in today's RBS 20-20 Cup Final between the Dolphins and the Stallions, who are looking to win the tournament for a 3rd consecutive time.

The Semi Finals - Review

Last night in the Semis, the Karachi Dolphins eased past the Islamabad Leopards who were bowled out for only 68 on the back of an outstanding bowling performance.

Sohail Khan (2-5), Anwar Ali (1-13), Malik Aftab (3-17), and Afridi (1-9) were too hot to handle for the Leaopards who lasted for only 16 overs.

The Dolphins got to the total in only 10 overs with the loss of 1 wicket.

The 2nd semi final between the Sialkot Stallions and the Lahore Lions was a much closer contest, with Malik's team winning by a mere 6 runs.

Winning the toss and electing to bat, the Stallions' innings never got going as they ended their 20 overs on 117-6 with Abdur Rehman and Mansoor Amjad unbeaten on 16 and 12 respectively. Kamran Younis, with 36 off 54 balls, was their top scorer.

The Lions' spinners Sohail Ahmed (3-22) and Waqas Ahmed (2-17) had done a brilliant job in keeping the Stallions' scoring rate under check.

What should have been an easy target for the Lions looked too much at the end as spinners Kamran Younis and Shoaib Malik gave away only 30 runs in 8 overs between them, picking up 3 wickets along the way.

Only Salman Butt, with a 38 ball 32, put up some resistance as the Lions ended their innings on 111-6. Waqas Ahmed tried a lone hand at the end smashing an unbeaten 31 off only 12 deliveries but the Lions fell 6 runs short.

Mohammad Yousuf took 34 deliveries to score 17, as he failed for the 3rd time in this tournament.

The Final - Prediction

Tonight as the Stallions look to defend their title against the Dolphins, I safely put my money on Shahid Afridi and his team.

The Stallions have won the previous 2 domestic 20-20 tournaments but this time round they are missing key players in Imran Nazir, Mohammad Asif, Rana Naveed, Shahid Yousuf, and Shehzad Malik.

The fact that they have got to the final without these players is a major achievement but tonight against a strong Dolphins side, the Stallions will have their hands full.

The Dolphins could easily pass as an international side with the likes of Khurram Manzoor, Khalid Latif, Naumanullah, Fawad Alam, Shahid Afridi, Sarfraz Ahmed, Anwar Ali, and Sohail Khan in their ranks.

Their batting and bowling looks more balanced than that of the Stallions and I believe the Dolphins are the favorites to walk away with the title tonight.

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

Today is the final day of league games of the RBS 20-20 Cup with the 4 semi final spots up for grabs.

This is what the points table looks like thus far.

Group A

The Dolphins with 2 wins out of 2 look set to make it from group A, however the Wolves do have an outside chance if they beat the Eagles by a high margin and the Dolphins lose to the lowly rated Rhinos.

Highly unlikely but possible.

This was the toughest group of the tournament with a former champion and a former runner up pooled together.

Looks like Afridi will be taking a shot at a 2nd domestic title for his team this year.

Group B

The winner of today's game between the Stallions and the Hawks will determine who will go through to the semi finals from Group B.

The Karachi Zebras were thrown out of the competition by the Hyderabad Hawks last night as they failed to chase a competitive 169.

The Hawks batting charge was led by allrounder Rizwan Ahmed who smashed a 43 ball 57 and experienced domestic player Shahid Qambrani who belted an unbeaten 48 off 36 balls.

In response the Zebras started in emphatic fashion with an opening partnership of 87 before the rest of the batting collapsed losing the 8 wickets for 25 runs. Left arm spinner Nauman Ali (2-16) and part timer Faisal Athar (3-7) were the wreckers-in-chief.

Shoaib Malik's Stallions, who are chasing their 3rd consecutive 20-20 title, are the favorites to join the Dolphins in tomorrow' semi-finals.

Group C

Multan Tigers' unlikely 7 wicket victory over the Peshawar Panthers last night has given them a strong chance of making it to the semi finals.

If the Tigers beat the Leaopards tonight, they will be through; however a victory for the Leaopards will give the Panthers a lease of life and net run rates will come into play.

Last night the Tigers' internationals, Abdur Rauf (2-11) and Kamran Hussain (3-10) sent the Panthers crashing to 103 all out as their famed batting line up of Yasir Hameed (8), Wajahatullah Wasti (2), Jannisar Khan (0), Rafatullah Mohmand (0), and skipper Younis Khan (0) fell to quality swing bowling.

The Panthers were reeling at 15-6 before Aftab Alam took them to a somewhat respectable total with a polished 52 off 49 deliveries.

The Tigers' batsmen, though inexperienced, easily reached the target in 16 overs, while losing 3 wickets on their way.

Group D

Tonight, the Lions will fight it out with the Rams for the final slot in the semi finals.

Last night, the Rawal Pindi Rams ended the Quetta Bears' campaign after they thrashed them by 75 runs.

The Rams' quality pace battery of Sohail Tanvir (3-20), Yasir Arafat (3-5), and Mohammad Aamer (2-13) helped fold the Bears innings up for 67.

Earlier Arafat had played a cruicial role with the bat scoring 35 off 26 deliveries, after the Rams had been struggling on 59-5, guiding them to a total of 142.

Semi Finals

These will be played out tomorrow and I think it will involve the Dolphins, Stallions, Lions, and Tigers. Though the Rams look like most likely of teams to upset te Lions.

Stay tuned for updated.

The RBS National 20-20 Cup continued yesterday with 5 more matches as Pakistan Vice Captain Misbah found himself in a situation we have seen him in many a time.

The Faisalabad Wolves, winners of the 2005 domestic 20-20 title and runners up of the 2006 one, took on the Karachi Dolphins, runners up of the 2007 competition, in what was highlighted as the main event of the 2nd day of the tournament.

The match truly lived up to its potential.

Shahid Afridi won the toss and elected to bat first. The Dolphins' openers Khalid Latif (22) and Khurram Manzoor (34), both who have played a few ODIs for Pakistan this year, set about at a good pace putting together an opening partnership of 58 runs.

The rest of the Dolphin batsmen did not continue the good work the openers had done as their innings folded for 155.

Only Afridi who smashed 28 off only 12 balls could provide some impetus to the innings.

Saeed Ajmal, who had impressed one and all during the Asia Cup this year, was the pick of the bowlers for the Wolves picking up 3 wickets to bring the Dolphins innings to a halt.

156 should have been a gettable target for the Wolves, particularly with the likes of Hafeez and Misbah in the ranks but brilliant bowling by Afridi, Sohail Khan, and Anwar Ali left the Wolves stranded 8 runs short as their innings closed on 147-5 with Misbah stranded at the crease.

Requiring 14 to win of the final over, Misbah lost the strike of the 3rd ball and Ahmed Hayat could not get any of the next 3 deliveries away as Sohail Khan gave away only 5 runs in the crucial 20th over of the innings.

Misbah remained not out on 48 off 31 deliveries that included 4 sixes, while Sohail Khan ended with figures of 2-20 off his 4 overs.

Earlier, Afridi had done an outstanding job with the ball conceding only 16 runs in his 4 overs and picking up 2 wickets.

With 2 wins out of 2, the Dolphins look set to advance to the semi finals.

Pakistan's new domestic season (2008-09) kicked off last night with the opening matches of the RBS National 20-20 Championship.

5 matches were played on the opening day around Lahore including 2 Group A matches and a match each from Group B, C, and D.

The day began with Misbah's Faisalabad Wolves taking on the inexperienced Abbotabad Rhinos.

Despite chasing only 148, the Rhinos fell short by 20 runs as Mohammad Talha, the U19 pacer, and Samiullah Khan Niazi picked up 5 wickets between them.

The Wolves posted a total of 148-6 on the back of opener Mohammad Hafeez's 53 ball 62 that included a six and 4 boundaries. Hafeez was well supported by Misbah who scored a 25 ball 30, but the Wolves fell short of a higher total as the Rhinos' spinners Yasir Shah and Khalid Usman kept the batsmen quiet.

In the 2nd game Shahid Afridi's Karachi Dolphins showed why they are one of the favorites to win the title as they beat the Lahore Eagles by 25 runs.

Batting first the Dolphins posted 184-7 in their 20 overs. The Dolphins' charge was led by Fawad Alam (55 off 42), who continued his good run of form following his Academy heroics on the tour of Africa.

Khurram Manzoor (16 off 12), Khalid Latid (14 off 10), Naumanullah (41 off 25), Afridi (23 off 17), and Anwar Ali (11 off 4) all contributed to the Dolphins' match winning total.

The Eagles could manage only 159-9 in response as Anwar Ali, who like Fawad had an outstanding Academy tour, ripped through their batting line up with 3-8 off 3 overs.

Afridi (2-18) and Sohail Khan (2-26) were the other key wicket takers for the Dolphins.

The Lahore Lions, who like the Dolphins are one of the favorites, beat the Quetta Bears by 2 runs, in what was a thrilling match.

Batting first, the Lions posted 187-4 as Pakistan opener Salman Butt showed fine form scoring an unbeaten 99 off only 67 balls with 10 boundaries and 3 sixes. Butt was unlucky to miss out on a ton as the Lions innings came to a close.

Earlier Butt had been involved in a 77 run opening partnership with Nasir Jamshed (22) that had laid the foundation for the Lions' high total.

Mohammad Yousuf, the Lions' captain, failed to impress as he scored only 5 before holing out to off-spinner Naseer Khan.

The Bears began their reply in emphatic fashion as Shoaib Khan smashed a 54 ball 85 at the top of the innings. Shoaib was well supported by the other inexperienced batsmen but he fell in the last over of the innings as the Bears fell short by only 2 runs.

Defending champions Sialkot Stallions easily beat the Karachi Zebras by 32 runs.

The Stallions had fallen to 39-3, before they were rescued by Qaiser Abbas (49) and Shoaib Malik (39) who shared a 73 run partnership for the 4th wicket to lead them to 179-9 off their 20 overs.

In response the Zebras could manage only 147. Left armer Sarfraz Ahmed was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3-16.

The last match of the night between the Peshawar Panthers and Islamabad Leopards marked the return of Shoaib Akhtar to domestic cricket in Pakistan.

All the talk about non payment of fine, fitness problems, etc were put to rest when Shoaib was at the start of his run up to bowl the first over of the match. He managed a wicket of the last delivery of his 1st over but failed to impress overall with figures of 1-30 off 4 overs.

Younis Khan top scored for the Panthers with a 26-ball unbeaten 45 to lead them to a match winning total of 175-7. The Leaopards lost by 14 runs ending their innings on 161-9.

Another 5 matches will be played today around Lahore and everyone's eyes will be on the potential cracker - Misbah's Faisalabad Wolves taking on Afridi's Karachi Dolphins.

Stay tuned to Well Pitched for updates.

The PCB recently launched the Royal Bank of Scotland 20-20 Cup that will kick off on 4th October in Lahore.

Finally some cricket!

Who would have thought that the global financial crisis would affect cricket in Pakistan.

ABN Amro has sponsored domestic cricket in Pakisan for the last 3 years, however with its take over by RBS, all cricket in Pakistan will now be sponsored by them.

Royal Bank of Scotland sponsoring cricket in Pakistan. That sounds strange doesn't it?

The PCB definitely needs some new sponsors!

This is the 4th edition of the domestic 20-20 tournament in Pakistan and the winners of this event will be given a ticket to participate in the 20-20 Champions League in December where they will be pitted against the Rajasthan Royals, Chennai Super Kings, Victoria Bushrangers, Western Australia Warriors, Nashua Dolphins, Nashua Titans, and Middlesex.

The Sialkot Stallions, led by Pakistan skipper Shoaib Malik, are the defending champions and will in fact be looking for a hatrick of titles in this years 20-20 tournament.

The Stallions, however, are significantly depleted this time around without the services of Mohammad Asif (doped out), Imran Nazir (ICL), and Rana Naveed (ICL).

Mansoor Amjad, Abdur Rehman, Kamran Younis, Sarfraz Ahmed (left arm quick), and Qaiser Abbas will provide good support to Malik, but without the top 3 players and no Shehzad Malik, the Stallions do not look like the same team that won the last two 20-20 cups.

Karachi Dolphins look like the strongest side in the competition. Led by Shahid Afridi the team includes Khurram Manzoor, Khalid Latif, Fawad Alam, Sarfraz Ahmed, Sohail Khan, Naumanullah, and Anwar Ali.

That is quite a formidable combination and Afridi would be looking to add another domestic title to his cap after the Pentangular Trophy earlier this year.

Karachi Zebras, led by Faisal Iqbal, are not as strong as the other Karachi side, with the only players with some international experience being Asim Kamal and Shadab Kabir.

The Zebras have also been hurt by the bans on ICL players with Hasan Raza and Mohammad Sami missing in action.

Faisalabad Wolves, captained by Misbah Ul Haq, under whom they won the first edition of the tournament and were the runners up of the 2nd have also been hit by the ICL bans.

They lose out on one of their most reliable batsmen in Naveed Latif and their attack bowler Shahid Nazir.

Despite that they still remain a relatively strong side with Mohammad Hafeez, Saeed Ajmal, and Samiullah Khan in the ranks along with one of the best 20-20 players in the world - their skipper Misbah.

Mohammad Yousuf, who has a point to prove despite saying he doesn't, will be captaining the Lahore Lions, which is another strong outfit with Salman Butt, Nasir Jamshed, Kamran Akmal, Umar Akmal, Ahmed Shehzad, Wahab Riaz, and Junaid Zia in the line up.

They will be missing Abdul Razzak due to the ICL ban, but remain a strong team despite that.

The Lahore Eagles, on the other hand, have been hurt quite badly due to the ICL bans. Openers Imran Farhat and Taufeeq Umar along with keeper Humayun Farhat will be missing from action.

The Eagles don't have any international experience on their side and will be reliant on Azhar Ali, who was one of the leading scorers of the last domestic season.

Multan Tigers will be captained by Abdur Rauf, the pacer who has played a few ODIs. The only other international is Kamran Hussain, the allrounder who played a few ODIs against Zimbabwe earlier this year.

The Rawal Pindi Rams will be led by experienced domestic campaigner Naved Ashraf.

The Rams look stronger than they have in previous years particularly on the bowling front with their line up including the IPL Bowler of the tournament, Sohail Tanvir, along with Yasir Arafat, and the U19 left armer Mohammad Aamer who has been praised highly by Wasim Akram.

Islamabad Leopards have been boosted with the inclusion of Shoaib Akhtar after the usual PCB confusion over selection matters, however how many matches he will play is anybodys guess.

The Leopards' side also includes U19 skipper Imad Wasim and promising U19 stars Raheel Majeed and Afaq Rahim. Bazid Khan, who was one of the leading run scorers in the last domestic season adds to the Leaopards' strength.

The Peshawar Panthers have always been a strong side with a number of international players in their ranks, however they have never lived up to their expectations on the domestic circuit.

Umar Gul was announced to captain them, however with the indecisive Younis Khan confirming his availability the captaincy might land in his laps.

Along with these 2 the Panthers side also includes Yasir Hameed, Fazl-e-Akbar, Wajahatullah Wasti and leading domestic players Rafatullah Mohmand and Jannisar Khan.

The Abbottabad Rhinos, Quetta Bears, and Hyderabad Hawks are the relatively weaker sides in the competition with no international experience to boast of.

The 13 teams have been placed in 4 pools:

Group A: Wolves, Rhinos, Eagles, Dolphins ---> the fish will devour up the wild ones.
Group B: Zebras, Stallions, Hawks ---> what are the birds doing between the horses?
Group C: Leapards, Panthers, Tigers ---> all the cats in one!
Group D: Lions, Bears, Rams ---> poor rams left to be eaten.

The group games will be played between October 4th and 6th, with the winners of each group making it to the semi finals, to be played on the 7th. The final will be on 8th October.

The bans placed on the ICL players have depleted a number of teams in this tournament.

I think the absence of players like Razak, Imran Nazir, Taufeed Umar, Naveed Latif, Imran Farhat, Humayun Farhat, Riaz Afridi, Shahid Nazir, Mohammad Sami, Hasan Raza will take the shine off the tournament to some extent.

All these players are big names on the domestic circuit and have done exceptionally well at the 20-20 level in the past.

Without them the annual 20-20 tournament doesn't remain the star studded affair that it used to be.

On the bright side though, it does bring some cricket back to Pakistan.

The fans have always thronged to the stadiums during these 20-20 tournaments and I would expect the same this time round, particularly with all the internationals confirming their availability.

On top, the stakes are higher this time - the champions get to play the best 20-20 teams from the world in the inaugral 20-20 Champions League in December.

The action starts on the 4th - We'll keep you updated.

It has been just over a year since Fawad Alam has been part of Pakistan's ODI squad, though he's just played 9 ODIs during this time.

Its only recently - as recent as the Kitply Cup and the ongoing Asia Cup that Fawad has been considered as a first choice in the starting XI.

Fawad hasn't been a regular in the starting XI due to Pakistan's preference in the past for playing a specialist opener or a 4th seamer with Afridi and Malik sharing the spinner's role.

Fawad's inclusion in the XI has come about due to Malik shying away from bowling coupled with the need to strengthen the lower order batting that has weakened due to Abdul Razzak's exclusion and Afridi's lack of form.

I've come across a number of people who have questioned his inclusion in the side.

I don't blame them as with a frame as small as his, it is difficult to consider him a cricketer. He doesn't look a day older than 16 and doesn't seem the sort that one would want at the crease at the end of an innings.

Don't go on the look though.

Fawad Alam's unbeaten 63 against Hong Kong on Tuesday showed why the selectors and the team management have so much faith in him.

Fawad walked into bat when the score was 135-4 off 22 overs. In the next 7 overs, Fawad watched Misbah, Afridi, and Sarfraz walk back to the pavilion as Pakistan slipped to 161-7.

He then shared a record 100 run 8th wicket partnership with Sohail Tanvir and remained unbeaten at the end of the innings leading Pakistan to a 288-9, something they never looked like achieving.

Ignore the fact that it happened against Hong Kong, with all due respect to them.

A situation like the one described above is tough for anyone, let alone someone who was only playing his 9th ODI.

Fawad batted with responsibility, consolidated when he had to, and accelerated when he had to. He hit only 3 boundaries yet he scored his 63 at a strike rate of over 80.

Job well done I would say.

In 9 ODIs now, Fawad has batted 8 times and remained unbeaten 6 times.

Those not outs have given him a Bevan - Hussey type ODI average of 65.00. And that too with quite a healthy strike rate of 89.65.

He has usually come out to bat at the end of an innings, either during a run chase or while batting first, which explains the not outs.

It has only been 9 ODIs, but more often than not he has delivered.

The game against Hong Kong wasn't the first time that he played the finisher's role for Pakitan.

He did that in his 2nd ODI when he was given a game on Pakistan's tour of India last year. In the 5th ODI between the sides, Fawad came to the crease in the 45th over and remained unbeaten on 32 of only 23 deliveries.

He scored 32 of Pakistan's 45 runs in the last 6 overs of the innings leading them to a match winning total.

So 2 innings does not make one a finisher then does it?

For those still not convinced of Fawad's potential, I'll take them through what made him become a part of Pakistan's ODI plans.

Lets start with his domestic record.

First Class: 39 matches, 2,655 runs at 49.16 with a highest of 151. 19 wickets at 32.68.

List A: 47 matches, 1,398 runs at 46.60 with a highest of 127. 37 wickets at 35.18.

20-20: 17 matches, 268 runs at 44.66 with a highest of 54. 21 wickets at 11.71.

Fawad first showed signs of his talent during the U19 World Cup in 2004. He led Pakistan to victory over India in the semi final with an unbeaten 43 while chasing a target of 169. He had come out to bat with Pakistan in some trouble on 83-5.

His real shot to fame though was the 2006-07 domestic season, at the end of which the selectors were prompted to include him in Pakistan's squad after their disastrous World Cup campaign.

In the Quaid-e-Azam trophy (Pakistan's premier first class competition), playing for Karachi, Fawad was the 5th highest run scorer with 544 runs in 6 matches at 49.45 with 2 100s and 3 50s.

In the ABN Amro One-Day Cup, playing for the Karachi Dolphins, Fawad was the 2nd highest run scorer with 315 runs in 6 matches at 78.75 with 1 100 and 2 50s.

In the ABN Amro Patrons Trophy (first class competition), playing for Habib Bank, Fawad was the 6th highest run scorer with 295 runs in 4 matches at 59.00 with 4 50s.

And then came the ABN Amro 20-20 competition where Fawad Alam starred like no other.

He was the leading run scorer and the leading wicket taker, and led the Karachi Dolphins charge into the final of the tournament.

Even though the Dolphins lost to the Sialkot Stallions, Fawad was the man of the match in the final with an allround performance scoring 54 and picking up 5-27.

He also picked up the player of the tournament, best batsman, and best bowler awards in the same tournament.

Still not convinced?

I am.

Fawad is here to stay and he will only enhance his reputation as Pakistan's finisher.