Quetta Bears v Lahore Eagles: Champions League T20 – First Innings Report
Batting first, Quetta Bears scored 125 all out against Lahore Eagles in Group A match of Faysal Bank T20 tournament today, September 27, 2011, at National Stadium, Karachi.
The Bears’ skipper, Bismillah Khan, won the toss and elected to bat first. Khan and Fareed-ud-din opened the innings.
The start was pitiable as Fareed fell on duck after playing just 4 balls. The one-down batsman, Matiullah Khan, followed suit and went after adding only 5 runs to the innings.
Bismillah stayed on the crease for a while, hitting a four and a six to collect 14 runs off 18 balls. Unfortunately, he went run on the first delivery of the 6th over.
The 4th wicket partnership between Abid Ali and Mir Wais lasted long and contributed 27 runs to the Quetta innings. Abid scored 22 off 24 balls with the help of one four and one six while Wais lashed 30 runs from 36 deliveries including 2 sterling
boundaries and an epic six.
None of the preceding three batsmen could cross the 10-run figure. Taimur Siddiq fell on a duck, while Arul Lal and Gul Mohammad made 10 and 5 runs respectively.
Among the lower-order, Saeed Khan was the only batsman who resisted the destructive bowling attack of the Eagles. He faced 13 balls and scored 26 runs with the help of three splendid boundaries and one long six.
The two tail enders, Mohammad Asif and Sher Hasan also failed to score. The wickets kept falling with regular intervals and the Eagles played havoc in the death overs, bagging the last two wickets on the second last and last balls of the innings.
Thus, Quetta Bears piled up an average total of 125 runs in the given 20-over quota. Their run rate had been 6.25 per over.
In the bowling line-up of Lahore Eagles, Junaid Zia, Mustafa Iqbal and Saad Nasim took 2 wickets each, while Kamran Sajid picked one scalp. The bowlers gave away 12 extra runs.
Imran Farhat and Taufeeq Umar, the two International players, opened the inning for the Eagles. The duo seemed to be confident and it was being predicted that they would steer their side to victory with their outstanding batting show.