The Markhors faced their first defeat of the Champions One-Day Cup as the Lions claimed a 35-run victory on Friday at the Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad on Friday.
The Mohammad Rizwan-led team failed to chase down the 368-run target set by Shaheen Afridi’s men in the first innings as the Lions had won the toss and opted to bat first.
After Fakhar Zaman’s (82 runs off 72 balls) fall, the Markhors were seemingly out of the game as even their skipper, Rizwan, returned after scoring 20 runs.
But things started to change for the Markhors with a crucial innings from Abdul Samad who scored 42 runs on 37 balls.
After Samad’s departure, the situation has once turned in favour of the Rizwan XI with a steady and fiery show from Salman Ali Agha who smashed 69 runs off 39 balls with seven fours and four sixes.
However, after Salman’s dismissal, Rizwan and Co just had two wickets in hand and needed 52 runs to win.
The Rizwan-led side managed to take the game to the last ball and they finished on 332/9.
Earlier, the Lions had finished up their innings on 367/6 in 50 overs after a tremendous batting display.
A stellar opening partnership accumulating 110 runs from Abdullah Shafique and Imam-ul-Haq helped the Lions in setting up the pace as they scored 52 off 64 and 51 off 56, respectively.
However, the duo were removed by Zahid Mehmood as Imam fell in the 19.2 over and Abdullah followed him in the 22nd over.
Still, the Lions remained steady and with the help of Omair Yousuf (30 off 33) and Mohammad Taha (31 off 37), the team continued its momentum.
After Omair’s and Taha’s dismissal, Irfan Khan and Khushdil Shah came to bat and bamboozled the undefeated of the tournament by cracking shots all over the park.
Together, the pair struck 10 fours and eight sixes, putting up a partnership of 147 runs.
The stand was broken by Mohammad Imran as Khushdil was dismissed after scoring a fiery 73 off 45 deliveries, smashing four boundaries and five sixes individually.
However, a magnificent hundred from Irfan proved to be the most stellar batting display of the Lions’ innings as the right-handed batter struck 100 off 56 with the help of 10 fours and five sixes.
Playing XI
Lions: Abdullah Shafique, Imam-ul-Haq, Omair Yousuf, Mohammad Taha, Irfan Khan, Khushdil Shah, Aamer Yamin, Shaheen Afridi (captain), Mohammad Asghar, Sajjad Ali (wk) and Ahmed Daniyal.
Markhors: Bismillah Khan (wk), Fakhar Zaman, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Rizwan (captain), Salman Ali Agha, Iftikhar Ahmed, Abdul Samad, Mohammad Imran, Zahid Mehmood, Shahnawaz Dahani and Mohammad Imran.
