Raza helps Badshahs annihilate Champs

Panchkula, March 22, 2008: A brilliant batting display by former Pakistani batsman Hasan Raza helped Lahore Badshahs trounce Mumbai Champs by 50 runs in the fifteenth match of the ICL's Twenty20 tournament in Panchkula on friday night

Inzamam won the toss and elected to bat on a pitch that seemed to have a better bounce then the previous outings at the venue. The Badshahs opened their innings with their dynamic opening duo of the two Imrans, Farhat&Nazir. The Champs got their big breakthrough when Van Der Wath destroyed the furniture of the dangerous Imran Nazir in the 3rd over.

Tino Best was again working up some pace and trapped the inform Humayun Farhat, leg before the wicket to reduce the Badshahs to 28/2 in the 4th over. At the end of the 5th over the Badshahs were place at 40/2 with Imran Farhat holding centre stage. Hasan Raza too got into the act, taking 20 runs with some exquisite strokes off a Tino Best over. The Lahore duo was going great guns, getting a 54 run partnership off only 20odd balls, till Khirid got the big breakthrough with the wicket of Farhat reducing the Badshahs to 82/3 in the 9th over.

At the halfway stage the Badshahs juggernaut was rolling at 10 runs per over, with 100 on the board for the loss of 3 wickets. With four overs to go the Badshahs were placed at 146/4 with Raza batting in the zone and looking for a big onslaught. Raza batted right through the innings making 98, which was the highest individual score at the ICL so far. The juggernaut finally came to an end at a formidable total of 187/5.

In reply the Champs opened their innings with a new combination of Captain Astle&Morris. The combination however did not work for the Champs with Morris back in the dugout in the 2nd over with the score only reading 9. The high quality swing bowling by both the new ball bowlers for the Badshahs had the Champs in a bother, struggling at 19/2 at the end of the 4th over.

Shahid Nazir came in first change and got the big wicket of the inform Raviraj Patil, leaving the Champs batting line up in absolute disarray at 30/3 in the 6 over. At the end of the half way mark of the Mumbai innings, Khanolkar&Powar were battling it out at 69/3 requiring another 119 runs of 60 balls at over 11runs per over.

However the experienced Mushtaq Ahmed broke the promising partnership with the wicket of Powar, leaving the Champs struggling at 75/4 in the 11th over. By the end of the 16th over it seemed too tall an order for the Champs, placed at 108/6 needing 80 runs off 24 balls at a humongous 20 runs per over.

The Champs finally caved in at 137/7 falling short of the target by 50 runs.

Brief scores: In reply the Champs opened their innings with a new combination of Captain Astle&Morris. The combination however did not work for the Champs with Morris back in the dugout in the 2nd over with the score only reading 9. The high quality swing bowling by both the new ball bowlers for the Badshahs had the Champs in a bother, struggling at 19/2 at the end of the 4th over. Shahid Nazir came in first change and got the big wicket of the inform Raviraj Patil, leaving the Champs batting line up in absolute disarray at 30/3 in the 6 over. At the end of the half way mark of the Mumbai innings, Khanolkar&Powar were battling it out at 69/3 requiring another 119 runs of 60 balls at over 11runs per over. However the experienced Mushtaq Ahmed broke the promising partnership with the wicket of Powar, leaving the Champs struggling at 75/4 in the 11th over. By the end of the 16th over it seemed too tall an order for the Champs, placed at 108/6 needing 80 runs off 24 balls at a humongous 20 runs per over. The Champs finally caved in at 137/7 falling short of the target by 50 runs. Hasan Raza was declared Man of the match for his match winning innings of 98

Brief scores: Lahore Badshahs 187/5 ( H Raza 98 , I Farhat 40 ,R Khirid 2/24) won by 50 runs, Mumbai Champs137/7 (Khanolkar 28, Van Der Wath33, Rana Naved3/16)
187/5 ( H Raza 98 , I Farhat 40 ,R Khirid 2/24) won by 50 runs, Mumbai Champs137/7 (Khanolkar 28, Van Der Wath33, Rana Naved3/16)