Umar blitz takes Lahore Lions to semis

KARACHI: Umar Akmal blasted unbeaten 95 while Aizaz Cheema bowled intelligently to put Lahore Lions in the semi-finals as they defeated Multan Tigers by 15 runs in their last Group B match of the Haier Super Eight T20 Cup at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad, on Saturday.
Umar smashed four sixes and 11 fours from 49 balls to guide Lahore Lions to 180-3.
Test-pacer Cheema then picked 3-25 from four overs to restrict Multan Tigers to 165-5.
Naved Yasin (68*) led Tigers’ chase and fought till the end but failed to take his team home.
Tigers needed 28 runs off the last over and 18 off the last three deliveries but Cheema bowled two dot balls before Naved got a couple off the last delivery.
Naved smashed five sixes and four fours from 39 deliveries.
The left-hander added 35 for the fourth wicket with skipper Gulraiz Sadaf (33), who hit three sixes and a four from 27 balls.
After Cheema got rid of openers Sikandar Khan (4) and Aamer Yamin (11), Kashif Mansha (26) added valuable 46 runs off 37 balls for the third wicket with Gulraiz to make some recovery. Mansha struck three fours from 27 deliveries.
Cheema was ably backed by Mustafa Iqbal (1-33) and Mohammad Hafeez (1-25).
Umar once again played a key role with his career-best knock as Lahore Lions recovered from 51-3 to post a decent total in the end after opting to bat first.
Umar, who was dropped from Pakistan’s squad for Bangladesh series, dominated the 129 runs third wicket stand with left-handed Test opener Nasir Jamshed who scored 27-ball 33 not out in which he hit two fours and a six.
Skipper Kamran Akmal, opening the innings, played a few glorious strokes before being bowled by Naved Yasin for 28. The Test stumper cracked four fours from 25 balls.
Ahmed Shehzad (8) and Mohammad Hafeez (8) once again failed to live up to the expectations.
Left-arm spinner Zulfiqar Babar (1-19), Sadaf Mehdi (1-37) and Naved Yasin (1-28) were the successful bowlers.
Medium-pacer Mohammad Zahid conceded 28 runs from two overs. Aamer Yamin gave away 34 runs from three overs.
Lions’ captain Kamran Akmal said Umar-Nasir partnership helped them. “Nasir made a vital partnership with Umar which helped us. In the first ten overs we were not going well but in the next ten overs we scored 120 runs that put us in a strong position,” Kamran said.
Multan Tigers’ captain Gulraiz said fielding lapses hurt them. “We conceded around 30 more runs in fielding that made the difference. Mostly juniors were playing in our side; they failed to cope up with the pressure,” the wicket-keeper batsman said.
Umar was declared man-of-the-match.
On Friday night, in Group A, Sialkot Stallions whipped Abbottabad Falcons by 87 runs to make it to the semi-finals as the group winners.
Stallions piled up 240-4 thanks to a record-breaking century from Bilal Asif, who hammered 114 off 48 balls. Bilal became the fastest century-maker for Pakistan in T20 cricket when he completed his century off 43 deliveries. Bilal’s historic knock was studded with ten huge sixes and eight fours.
After Nauman Anwar (13) fell cheaply, Bilal dominated the 56 runs stand for the second wicket with Mukhtar Ahmed, who hit 21-ball 27 with four fours.
Bilal put on 105 for the third wicket with skipper Shoaib Malik, who scored unbeaten 37-ball 56 with six fours and a six.
Shoaib added 41 off 15 balls with Haris Sohail (10) for the fourth wicket to enable Stallions to post the big total.
Test seamer Junaid Khan remained very expensive as he gave away 60 runs for two wickets.
The 19-year-old leg-spinner Usama Mir then picked 4-24 to dismiss Abbottabad Falcons for 153 in 17.3 overs.
Junaid Khan hit 17-ball 36 with three sixes and three fours.
Kamran Ghulam smashed 14-ball 29 with six fours, while Adnan Raees made 15-ball 28 with three fours and two sixes. Left-arm spinner Sultan Ahmed took 2-30 in four overs.