Abbottabad prevail in eliminator

Abbottabad Falcons edged out Quetta Bears in a one-over eliminator after forcing a tie with a run out off the last ball when only a single was required. Defending 126, Abbottabad's bowlers kept Quetta's scoring rate below six an over for most part of the innings and picked up regular wickets. At the fall of Quetta's fifth wicket, 49 were required off 38 balls. A quick 31 by Naushad Irshad and an unbeaten 26 by Arun Lal brought Quetta close, but ended up level.

Quetta, after choosing to field, had struck regularly to restrict Abbottabad to 126. Left-arm spinner Jalat Khan led the bowling with his maiden T20 five-wicket haul and was ably supported by a tight spell of 4-2-8-2 by Arun Lal. Abbottabad struggled to find momentum and their top-scorer was Yasir Shah, the No. 8 batsman, who scored 26 off 23 balls.

The loss has left Quetta at the bottom of the Group A table with no wins from their six matches.

Faisalabad Wolves 121 for 7 (Farrukh 31, Kashif 2-16) beat Bahawalpur Stags 111 for 8 (Adil 3-23) by 10 runs
Scorecard

Bahawalpur Stags were inflicted their first loss in the tournament by Faisalabad Wolves as they fell short of the target by 10 runs at the Gaddafi Stadium. Bahawalpur chose to field and were set a moderate target of 122, but two run outs early in the innings slowed them down. As the pressure mounted, Bahawalpur started losing wickets - three of them to Ehsan Adil. The ninth wicket pair of Mohammad Talha and Zulqarnain Haider made an attempt towards the target, but fell short.

Earlier, Faisalabad batsmen had also found it tough to force the pace. Opener Farrukh Shehzad scored 31, but the next highest scorer was wicketkeeper Mohammad Salman with 15. Kashif Siddiq and Kamran Hussain shared two wickets apiece.

Naved Malik scored his second consecutive half-century to help Rawalpindi Rams beat Peshawar Panthers by seven wickets. Chasing 142, Rawalpindi were set into motion with a quick 46-run opening stand between Naved and Awais Zia. Although Peshawar made a couple of more breakthroughs, the run-scoring continued at a good clip, with Naved leading the way with a 42-ball 67 that contained four sixes. Rawalpindi crossed the target in the 18th over to keep their chances for a semi-final berth open.

Peshawar lost their opener Mohammad Fayaz in the third over bowled by Sohail Tanvir, and then lost three more batsmen to Hammad Azam. Jamaluddin, who scored 32 off 25 balls, and Akbar Badshah, who scored 29 off 21 balls, pushed the scoring towards the end to take the team to 141.

A century-stand for the fourth wicket between Fawad Alam and Khurram Manzoor helped Karachi Dolphins beat Hyderabad Hawks by six wickets in a high-scoring match at the Bagh-e-Jinnah in Lahore. Chasing 162, Karachi stumbled in the first over as they lost both their openers to the bowling of Rehan Riaz. Hyderabad took further control with another wicket in the fourth over, but Manzoor and Alam came together to stage a recovery and set the chase back on track. The 119-run stand that came off 82 balls took the team within the striking range. Although Manzoor fell with the team nine short of a win, Alam carried on and completed the chase with three balls to spare.

Hyderabad Hawks, winless in the competition, chose to bat and the openers scored half-centuries to put up 89 in 11.3 overs to set the platform for a big total. Although none of the other batsmen got into double figures, Azeem Ghumman carried the bat through with an unbeaten 71. Sohail Khan picked up two wickets, but was expensive in his four over spell, giving away 54 runs.

Multan Tigers 137 for 5 (Anwar jnr 43, Sadaf 39, Yasin 35) beat Islamabad Leopards 135 for 4 (Bazid 41, Wasim 34) by five wickets
Scorecard

Productive knocks in quick time by Saeed Anwar jnr, Gulraiz Sadaf and Naved Yasin steered Multan Tigers to a convincing five-wicket victory with six overs to spare against Islamabad Leopards. After restricting Islamabad to 135 for 4, Mutlan lost two early wickets, but the three batsmen scored quickly, although none of them reached a half-century. At 117 for 5, 20 runs were scored off the final five deliveries of the 14th over to achieve the victory.

Islamabad, after choosing to bat, lost openers Junaid Nadir and Umair Khan by the fourth over. Faizan Riaz and Bazid Khan added 43 off 46 deliveries. Bazid scored 41 and Faizan 29, both at a run a ball. Although middle-order batsman Imad Wasim accelerated towards the end of the innings with a knock of 34 off 20 deliveries, Islamabad could only set Multan a target of 136.

Multan played more aggressively, as six of Islamabad's bowlers registered an economy rate of more than 9.50 runs per over for their fifth loss this season.

Lahore Lions 166 for 5 (Shehzad 59, Hafeez 50, Abbas 3-26) beat Sailkot Stallions 160 for 5 (Naved 63) by five wickets
Scorecard and ball-by-ball details

Lahore Lions' No. 7 Abdul Razzaq smashed two sixes off the last over to take his team to a thrilling penultimate-ball five-wicket against Sailkot Stallions at the Gaddafi Stadium.

Chasing 161, Lahore Lions were strong at 147 for 2 in the 19th over before two quick wickets were claimed by left-arm spinner Nayyer Abbas. With 13 runs required in the last over, two singles were taken off the first two deliveries, before Umar Akmal was caught out. New batsman Razzaq hit a six off the first ball he faced, and then took a couple of runs off the penultimate delivery before hitting a six off the last one, which turned out to be a no-ball too. The win helped Lahore Lions keep their unbeaten run in the tournament, and lead the Group A table.

The bowler, Naved-ul-Hasan, batting at No. 3, had earlier scored 63 off 41 balls to guide his team to 160 for 5.The openers had given them a quick start but both fell by the first quarter of the innings. Naved and Sohail added 64 in 7.5 overs before Sohail was dismissed, and Naved added another 38 runs with captain Shoaib Malik to help set a target at more than 8 runs per over.

In reply, opener Ahmed Shehzad, who is the top run-getter this season so far, and captain Mohammad Hafeez scored half-centuries. They put on 78 runs for the second wicket. Although Hafeez departed in the 14th over, Lahore Lions were in control of their chase before the 19th over.