FAISALABAD - May 15, 2015: Courageous Adil Amin hit a brilliant half century to guide Peshawar Panthers to a magnificent seven wickets victory over Rawalpndi Rams here in the Cool & Cool Presents Haier Super8 T20 Cup 2015 being played here at Iqbal Stadium on Friday.
Panthers reached 147 for three in 19.2 overs, in reply to Rams 145 for six in 20 overs. Rams, who were asked to bat first, believed that their total would be enough for their bowlers to defend but Panthers had no chances and played to their potential to get two points.
Getting his 53 in 44 balls, Adil timed the ball five times across the ropes and got involved in a useful match winning partnership of 50 runs for the third wicket with Iftikhar Ahmed. Panthers had a slow start but by the fifth over they moved past 50 runs, which Rams achieved in the seventh over.
Rafatullah Mohamand (13) was the first Panther to move out at 1-27 but Israrullah and Adil took the score to 65 when Israr lost his temper to Hammad Azam’s attack. Israr could only reach 26 before he gave an easy catch to Tayyab Riaz after hitting three boundaries and a six.
Adil, however, took things in his hands and started developing his innings for the team alongside Iftikhar. Both these batsmen played cautiously but rapidly to get runs. Mohammad Amir was successful in breaking their partnership when Iftikhar gave a catch to Zahid Mansoor with his personal score at 32 and the team’s 114 for three. He took 23 balls to hit three fours and a six.
By the time he (Iftikhar) was back in the pavilion, the path to the win was already laid and Adil with the help of Mohammad Rizwan covered that pasage on the second ball of the 20th over. Rizwan in his supportive role contributed nearly a run a ball to reach 14 runs. Panthers, however, planned their game to the need and were only troubled by Amir, Mohammad Asghar and Hammad Azam, who shared one wicket each from the losing side.
Rams took 42 balls to race to their 50 in seven overs and had a valuable 56 runs second wicket partnership between Zahid Mansoor 34 and opener Naved Malik 57.
Once the pair was separated with the loss of Zahid’s wicket, things slowed down for Rams, who instead of showing pace reached their 100 runs in the 14th over, taking 84 balls.
Naved Malik, tried his best to provide pace to the score but he could only last till the 13th over and was trapped by Iftikhar who made him hit the ball to Guhar Ali. Naved, however, gathered 57 runs in 40 balls hitting seven boundaries and two sixes. Rams remaining batsmen instead of playing fast were in fact contained by the Panthers. In the last three overs, Rams could muster a mere 19 runs with only Hammad Azam able to come among the runs, making 23 runs. Imran Khan and Imran Khan II made easy inroads in Rams batting line up taking two and three wickets respectively while Iftikhar had one wicket.
