FAISALABAD – Lake City Panthers beat UMT Markhors by five wickets to win the inaugural Bahria Town Champions One-Day Cup at the Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad on Sunday evening.
Out of a Rs49 million prize pot, the Shadab Khan-led Lake City Panthers bagged prize money of Rs30 million while the UMT Markhors collected the runners-up prize of Rs15 million.
Panthers bundled out the Markhors after they opted to bat first, for a mere 122-run total in 33.4 overs and then took just 18 overs to chase it down with five wickets in the bag as skipper Shadab Khan hit the winning six. Abdul Wahid Bangalzai top-scored for Panthers with 41 off 43 balls hitting five fours and two sixes.
Earlier, three-wicket hauls by Arafat Minhas (3-1) and Mohammad Hasnain (3-38), who also finished with a tournament tally of 17 wickets, backed up by player of the match performance by Sajid Khan (2-24) dented the Markhors progress with the bat as they collapsed from 82-2 in 18.2 overs to 122 all out in 33.4 overs. Shadab and Ali Raza also picked up one wicket each.
After Markhors copped two early blows with the scorecard reading 26-2 in 5.3 overs, Haseebullah (27, 48b, 3x4s) stitched a 56-run third-wicket partnership with Fakhar Zaman who top-scored for the Markhors with 46 off 49 balls clubbing five fours and one six.
Off-spinner Sajid got rid of both the set batters in the 19th and 21st overs to spark a batting collapse as Markhors lost their last eight wickets in 15.2 overs. Apart from Haseebullah and Fakhar, only Bismillah Khan (16, 37b, 2x4s) reached double figures for Markhors.
In turn, the Panthers’ opening batters raced to 51 in 7.4 overs before Umar Siddiq departed for 19 with the help of three fours. Sajid (15, 13b, 2x4s, 1×6), promoted to bat at No.3, was the second batter to be dismissed as Markhors struck regular blows to reduce the Panthers from 51-1 to 94-5 in 15 overs.
Usman Khan, who finished as the top run-scorer of the tournament with 272 runs in six games, only contributed 13 off eight balls hitting a four and a six. Rizwan Mehmood (16 not out, 12b, 3x4s) and Shadab (14, 9b, 1×4, 1×6) stitched a 29-run stand for the sixth wicket to take their team home safely.
For Markhors, Mohammad Imran Jnr and Akif Javed picked up two wickets each while Shahnawaz Dahani dismissed one batter.
Player of the Match: Sajid Khan
Emerging Player of the Tournament: Ali Raza
Wicket-keeper of the Tournament: Usman Khan
Batter of the Tournament: Usman Khan
Bowler of the Tournament: Mohammad Hasnain
Player of the Tournament: Mohammad Hasnain
