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Oct 23, 2008, Thu (ICL Match 20) Delhi Giants beat Lahore Badshahs by six wickets with nine balls to spare in a day and night encounter at the Tau Devi Lal Stadium in Gurgaon on Sunday.

Ali Murtuza’s brilliants display of bowling, which bagged him four wickets of four overs, and Abbas Ali’s gritty knock of 52 helped Giants cruise to a victory over Badshahs.  

Chasing a target of 148, Delhi Giants Giants lost openers Marvan Atapattu and Monish Mishra quickly with only 23 on the board.

But, Ali, who played a gritty knock in the company of Abhinav Bali as both put on 80 runs for the fourth wicket, put his team on the path to victory.

Bali unbeaten on 47, started cautiously, also grew in confidence in the company of Ali.

Lahore Badshahs, who elected to bat after wining the toss, got off to an unimpressive start, losing wickets at regular intervals.

Giants spinner Ali Murtuza was responsible for the downslide of Badshahs as he sent four out of their top five batsmen back to the pavilion early.

The in-form batsmen off Imran Nazir (12), Imran Farhat (16) and skipper Inzamm-ul-Haq (12) disappointed the holiday crowd.

Badshahs were 63 for five off 12.1 overs when it looked like the Pakistan side were out of the match.

But, all-rounder Azhar Mahmood (67) counterattacked and came up with a spectacular unbeaten knock, which came off 39 balls and contained five sixes and five fours.

He was ably supported by wicketkeeper Hafiz Khalid (20), with whom he put on 84 runs off 7.5 overs.

They took Badshahs to a respectable total of 147 for 5 off the stipulated 20 overs.

Taduri Sudhindra proved to be the most expensive bowler for Giants as he conceded 52 runs of four overs.  

After openers departed quickly, Dhruv Mahajan (19) flattered to deceive as he was bowled by Shahid Nazir.

The Giants scoreboard read 52 for three of 5.3 overs at this stage, before the fourth wicket partnership of Ali-Bali wrapped up the match for them.

Ali Murtuza was named the ‘man of the match’.

Oct 23, 2008, Thu (ICL Match 16) Mumbai Champs lost to Lahore Badshahs by eight wickets in a day and night encounter at the Sardar Vallabhai Patel Stadium at Ahmedabad on Thursday.

Imran Nazir led Badshahs to emphatic win as he scored an unbeaten 83 off 38 balls.

Nazir earned the man of the match award for his  knock, which contained nine sixes and five fours.

Skipper for Badshahs Inzamam-ul-Haq (27) joined Nazir when the team’s score was 67 for two.

The pair put on an unbeaten partnership of 74 runs as Badshahs won the match easily in 13.2 overs.

Mumbai Champs, who were put into bat by Lahore Badshahs, got off to a solid, but a relatively slow start.

Their openers Taufeeq Umar and Dheeraj Jadhav put on 84 runs for the first wicket in 13.1 overs before the former was caught by Hafiz Khalid off Tahir Mughal.

Umar (41) scored his runs off 42 balls

Later, Dheeraj got out while upping the tempo of Champs innings for 57 off 46 balls, which contained seven boundaries.

Disciplined bowling by Badshahs ensured that Champs lost two more wickets.

But, late onslaught by Hasan Raza (17), who scored two sixes, and Kiran Powar (12) saw to it that Champs reached 140 off their stipulated 20 overs losing five wickets.

Mohammad Sami was the most expensive bowler for Badshahs as he gave away 27 runs off three overs, while Mughal was their most successful bowler claiming three wickets after conceding 28 runs off four overs.

Openers Imran Nazir, in particular, and Imran Farhat (21) gave Badshahs a great start as the pair slammed 59 runs off just 2.5 overs.

Nazir thrashed Michael Kasprowicz for 30 runs in the bowlers first over.

Johan van der Wath claimed Farhat, who was caught by Kiran Powar.

Naved-ul-Hasan (6) couldn’t do much before he was trapped leg before by slow left arm bowler Avinash Yadav.

Nazir, who did not spare Shidhar Iyer either, reached his half century off 27 balls.

Lahore Badshahs v Mumbai Champs T20 Highlights Part 1

Lahore Badshahs v Mumbai Champs T20 Highlights Part 2

Lahore Badshahs v Mumbai Champs T20 Highlights Part 3

Lahore Badshahs v Mumbai Champs T20 Highlights Part 4

Lahore Badshahs v Mumbai Champs T20 Highlights Part 5

October 19 (ICL Match 12) Lahore Badshahs defeated Ahmedabad Rockets by 31 runs in a day and night encounter at the Sardar Vallabhai Patel Stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday.

Ahmedabad Rockets, who won the toss, asked Lahore Badshahs to bat first.

Azhar Mahmood led the team from Pakistan in place of Inzamam-ul-Haq.

Lahore Badshahs openers Imran Nazir and Imran Farhat gave a brisk start, but Farhat perished when he was caught off skipper Damien Matryn off Jason Gillespie’s bowling for 18 when their team was 28.

Sumit Kalia struck thrice for Rockets when he had Imran Nazir, Naved-ul-Hasan and Shahid Yousuf in three overs putting the Pakistan team on a back foot.

At the halfway mark of 10 overs, Badshahs were 72 for four.

Naved Latif and wicketkeeper Hafiz Khalid tried to build a partnership, but they were both removed by Parvex Aziz in a single over.

Aziz also accounted for skipper Mahmood who caught at the boundary ropes by Gillespie for eight.

Then, Badshahs only managed to score 136 for the loss of nine wickets in the stipulated 20 overs.

Hafiz Khalid (27) was the highest scorer for Badshahs.

Ahmedabad Rockets got off to a poor start as they lost both Ryan Campbell and Damien Martyn at twenty.

Azhar Mahmood and Mohammad Sami claimed wicket apiece.

Murray Goodwin (4) also did not last long as he was caught by Nazir off Naved. Sridharan Sriram (2) also followed suit as he was caught plumb before Saqlain Mushtag.

Rockets were in a shaky ground with a score of 39 for four off eight overs at this stage.

Sodhi (14) played on to his wickets off Shahid Nazir’s bowling, while Pervez Aziz (26) missed the line off the same bowler.

By the time Streak (8) holed out to Khalid off Mughal’s bowling and Kalia (1) was bowled by Mushtaq, it was all over for Ahmedabad Rockets.

Mushtaq was the most successful bowler for Badshahs with figures of three for 26.

Azhar Mahmood was the named the ‘man of the match’ for his captaincy.