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Sunday, December 22, 2024  
20 Jumada Al-Akhirah 1446  

Super-8 T20: Sialkot Stallions becomes champions

Six-time National T20 Cup winners, Sialkot Stallions also became the champions of the Faysal Bank Super Eight T20 Cup on Sunday when they defeated Karachi Dolphins by eight wickets after an interesting contest in front of a jam-packed crowd here at Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium.

In a final that was tight until the last three overs, Dolphins 167/8 proved too little for Stallions to chase as they won the event with seven balls to spare.

Karachi Dolphins chose to bat on a pitch that produced high scores throughout the tournament and made a quick start with opener Shahzaib Hussain scoring 30 off just 14 balls that included four boundaries and a huge six.
Khalid Latif hit unbeaten 81 off 59 balls. Asad Shafiq was another leading scorer, who made 38 off 35 balls with two fours and a towering six. Dolphins no other batsmen could even entered into double figures and they lost most of their wickets in the final overs while attempting big shots.

For Stallions Raza Hassan grabbed four wickets for 33 runs, while one wicket each was taken by Umaid Asif and Rana Naved-ul-Hasan. Two batsmen were run out.

In reply, almost all Sialkot's top-order batsmen contributed to their victory except semi-final centurion opening batsman Shakeel Ansar, who was run out on six.

The chase got off to an explosive start with Imran Nazir smacking 41 runs off just 20 balls. He smashed two sixes and six fours. Stallions captain Shoaib Malik as well as Haris Sohail hammered blazing half centuries. Malik made 62 off 42 with seven fours while Sohail scored 55 off 48 balls. Both the batsmen also remained unbeaten. Faraz Ahmed was the only bowler of Karachi Dlophin, who could take one wicket of Stallions. One batsman (Shakeel Ansar) was run out.

Stallions captain Shoaib Malik was declared player of the match, while Karachi Dolphins opening batsman Khalid Latif was declared player of the tournament for his outstanding performance in throughout tournament.