Sialkot Stallions won the toss and put Eagles to bat first on beautiful sunny evening at Rawalpindi. Eagles had four star international players in their lineup namely Taufeeq Umar, Imran Farhat, Adnan Akmal and the rising star Azhar Ali. Sialkot on the other hand had the exciting Imran Nazir in their lineup alongwith the former captain of Pakistan, Shoaib Malik.
Imran Farhat and Taufeeq Umar came on to open the innings for Lahore eagles, the two regular openers of Pakistan though in different versions of the game. The opening partnership could not last longer than 15 balls as Imran Farhat was caught by Malik in the 16th ball of the game bowled by Bilawal Bhatti.
The younger Farhat soon followed his brother to the pavillion caught by Malik again, and the wickets kept falling for Eagles as Taufeeq in the very next over was dismissed by Bilawal Bhatti and once again it was Shoaib Malik to handle the ball.
After the first three dismissals, the game considerably slowed up and the 4th wicket partnership just got worth 20 runs which were scored in the 2nd quarter of the innings. Azhar Ali got dismissed in the 10th over after just scoring eight runs, and Adnan Akmal soon followed his footsteps as he out leg before wicket by Shoaib Malik.
The Eagles' wickets kept falling and they just managed to put a target of 130 runs on the board for Sialkot Stallions to chase in 120 balls. The spotlight surely was on Bilawal Bhatti as he took three crucial early wickets for Sialkot and set a platform for his co-bowlers.
Following a short break started the Sialkot innings, and Imran Nazir, from whom a lot was expected went for a golden duck as he was bowled by Mohammad Khalil. Shakeel Ansar and Faisal Naveed carried the innings for Sialkot 30 runs after which Faisal Naved was run out by Imran Farhat on the last ball of powerplay.
Shakeel Ansar was then joined by Shoaib Malik, and they both added 31 runs after which Ansar was run out brilliantly by Adnan Akmal in the 11th over. Shoaib Malik and Qaiser Abbas were next to fall in the 13th and 15th over respectively after becoming the victims of Saad Wasim.
Shahid Yousuf and Ali Khan continued the onslaught and amidst all the pressure scored some quick fire runs which lead Sialkot to snatch their first win in Faysal Bank Super Eight Cup.
Summarized Scores:
Sialkot Stallions 132/5 (Shakeel Ansar 32) beat Lahore Eagles 129/8, 20 overs overs (Bilawal Bhatti 3/33) by 5 wickets
Man of the Match: Shahid Yousuf (Sialkot Stallions)
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