FAISALABAD - May 15, 2015: Bilal Asif cracked the first century of the tournament as Sialkot Stallions bounced back in the event to outclass Abbottabad Falcons by 87 runs in the Cool & Cool Presents Haier Super8 T20 Cup 2015 here at the Iqbal Stadium on Friday.
Stunned by Rawalpindi Rams in their previous match, Stallions came back in contention slamming 240 runs for four wickets in 20 overs and then bowled out Falcons for 153 in 17.3 overs.
Stars of the match were Bilal and captain Shoaib Malik, who developed 105 runs for the third wickets including their personal feat of 114 runs and 56 not out respectively. Bilal smashed 10 sixes and eight fours while completing his century in 48 balls while Malik took 37 balls to reach his mark, hitting six fours and a six. Before Bilal and Malik tightened their grip on the match, the former also shared a 56 runs stand for the second wicket with Mukhtar Ahmed (27). Their partnership was a script of just 13 balls in which Bilal put Falcons to the sword. Opener Nauman Anwar 13, Haris Sohail (10) and extras 20 were a valuable addition to the Stallions score that pushed Falcons from all corners.
Junaid Khan took two wickets including the one of Bilal while Yasir Shah and Kamran Ghulam trapped one batsman each.
Abbottabad having a big task to achieve lost one of its openers but got small partnerships when they required someone to play a big innings. As Sultan Ahmed uprooted two of the Falcons batsmen, Usama Mir ripped apart the middle order. Only Bilawal Bhatti remained wicketless while century maker Bilal, Malik, Haris Sohail and Mukhatar took one wicket each. From Falcons lineup, Haroon 22, Kamran Ghulam 29, Adnan Raees 28, Rameez Ahmed 10 and Junaid Khan 36 contributed runs in their futile effort towards their chase. In fact they were facing a daunting task to achieve and with no big name in the team, the match was far from over when they lost their early wickets and big innings from their rival teams one down batsman.
