Misbah-ul-Haq crushed Kandurata Maroons – Qualifying match

Faisalabad Wolves 6-146 (Misbah-ul-Haq 93, Mohammad Salman 21, Dilhara Lokuhettige 3-21) beat Kandurata Maroons 7-136 (Kumar Sangakkara 44, Chamara Silva 25, Ehsan Adil 3-26, Imran Khalid 2-27) by 10 runs.

Misbah-ul-Haq continued with his brilliant form with the bat and led Faisalabad Wolves to a maiden win in the event while beating Kandurata Maroons at Mohali.

Faisalabad Wolves thrashed 146 runs for the loss of six wickets at the close of the scheduled 20 overs and Kandurata Maroons scored 136 with three wickets remaining.

Misbah-ul-Haq (Faisalabd Wolves) was announced ‘Player of the match’ for his entertaining knock of 93 from 60 mere balls.

The fifth qualifying match of the Champions League Twenty20 was played on Friday, September 20, 2013, at Punjab Cricket Association Stadium, Mohali, Chandigarh.

Misbah-ul-Haq - An entertaining unbeaten knock of 93 off 60 mere balls
Misbah-ul-Haq – An entertaining unbeaten knock of 93 off 60 mere balls

Earlier, Lahiru Thirimanne, the skipper of Kandurata Maroons, won the toss and invited his rival team to bat first. Faisalabad Wolves lost their first wicket at five as Asif Ali and the other opener, Ammar Mahmood, took the score to 20 when the first was gone for 10. Ammar Mahmood followed him two runs later for 10 as their captain, Misbah-ul-Haq, and Khurram Shehzad tried to put some runs on board. Misbah-ul-Haq was dropped at one, that ended in a six while he added 11 runs in the 9th over with 1 six and 1 four. Khurram Shehzad was declared leg before wicket off Ajantha Mendis for just seven as Mohammad Salman appeared in the center.

The middle order batting was unable to deliver and Misbah-ul-Haq was the only competent player around. He hit two back to back fours in the 13th over and reached his 8th Twenty20 fifty two overs later. The skipper added another 16 runs in the 16th over with 1 six along with 2 fours and continued with his assault in the coming overs. Mohammad Salman got his first four on the 19th ball and became the next victim at 130 in 18.1 overs for 21 runs. Misbah-ul-Haq remained unbeaten for 93 off 60 mere deliveries with 5 towering sixes and 6 well timed fours as Faisalabad Wolves smashed 6-146 in 20 overs.

Dilhara Lokuhettige was the highest wicket taker with three, Nuwan Kulasekara held two and Ajantha Mendis claimed one wicket.

Kandurata Maroons went down by one wicket at 14 as the experienced Kumar Sangakkara got together with Upul Tharanga who had already hit 3 consecutive fours. Sangakkara hit the first six of the innings in the fifth over and the duo crept to 43 in 7.2 overs when Tharanga was caught by Asad Ali at mid-off at the bowling of Ehsan Adil for 25. The first was dropped at 17 by Khurram Shehzad off at his own bowling and the third wicket fell at 55. Chamara Silva joined in next and got a life at two whereas Sangakkara hit a couple of fours in the following overs but was caught by Ammar Mahmood off Imran Khalid for 44 from 36 with 1 six and 4 fours.

Kandurata Maroons were 4-83 in 14.1 overs as Dilhara Lokuhettige associated with Silva who hit a six in the 17th over. The latter was stumped smartly by Mohammad Salman off Imran Khalid for 25 and his team required 39 runs to win from the last 18 balls. Dilhara was run out for 15 and Milinda Siriwardana scored 19 as Kandurata Maroons were restricted to 136 after losing seven wickets in 20 overs.

Ehsan Adil was the top wicket taker with three, Imran Khalid got two whereas Asad Ali chipped in with one wicket.

Faisalabd Wolves grasped the game vs. Kandurata Maroons by a margin of 10 runs and secured four points. Both teams are out of the tournament already and the latter one was unable to win any game out of three played by them.


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