Man-of-the-Match Ehsan Adil receives his check
Faisalabad Wolves held nerves in the dying moments to clinch an incredible two-run victory over Lahore Lions in the first semi-final of Faysal Bank Super Eight T-20 Cup at Gaddafi Stadium Lahore on Saturday.
Needing nine runs off the last over, Lahore seemed on song to overhaul the 125-run target but seamer Ehsan Adil delivered an astounding final over and conceded just 6 runs to shatter Lions hopes.
Sohail Ahmed (19) propelled the first delivery past rope to make it five in five. Adil made it four in five with a wide delivery on the next ball.
But Sohail’s eagerness to take Lahore beyond target with a big hit proved too costly for the hosts as his mistimed pull shot was taken by Jahandad Khan at mid-on.
Adil outshined Sohail’s wicket by delivering another wide ball, which reduced Lahore’s target to 3 off as many balls. But he comprehended soon and atoned for his mistake by bowling two successive dot balls to Adnan Rasool.
Needing 3 runs off 2 balls, a boundary would’ve been enough to take the hosts past target, but the Rasool and Zia-ul-Haq opted to do this by scampering and both got run out in this attempt.
Prior to this, despite of strong second-wicket stand between Nasir Jamshed (46 off 39) and Mohammad Hafeez (36 off 27) after the early dismissal of Ahmed Shehzad (5), the hosts failed to sustain momentum and lost wickets in quick-succession.
Earlier, riding on Khurram Shehzad’s 30-ball 27 and an array of contributions from Mohammad Salman (20), Asif Ali (19), skipper Misbah-ul-Haq (19) and Farrukh Shehzad (18) Faisalabad managed125-9.after opting to bat.
Off-spinner Hafeez was the pick of Lahore bowling with 3-30, Rasool finished with 2-27.