After finishing bottom in last season’s PSL, Lahore Qalandars showed they can be competitive force in franchise cricket after beating Multiply Titans to emerge champions of the inaugural Abu Dhabi T20.
Both teams went into the title decider on the back of two consecutive group stage victories. But when it mattered, Qalandars delivered and will travel back home to Pakistan with their first T20 trophy.
Lahore were defending a total of 148 after captain Sohail Akhtar’s fifty with the Titans needing 23 off the last two overs. However, Shaheen Afridi rattled the stumps of Heino Kuhn for 37 to take his second scalp of the day to eventually seal a 15-run victory.
The triumph was even more remarkable for Qalandars after they fielded a number of players from their development programme.
Akhtar lauded his team for their efforts and particularly the bowlers. He said: “I am very happy. My role in the team was to play my best and I did that. I scored a half-century and I am very happy our bowlers played very well. I thought 148 was a great effort because they (Titans) have played very well in every game.”
Batting first at Sheikh Zayed Stadium, Qalandars lost opener Bilal Arshad (14) early on but Akhtar and Mohammad Faizan frustrated Titans’ bowlers.
The duo took a while to settle but brought up the team’s fifty in the eighth over and from then on, continued to keep the scoreboard ticking with a vital 81-run partnership.
Akhtar, who scored a century in the opening victory against Yorkshire Vikings on Thursday, reached his fifty off 41 deliveries before Faizan became Tshepo Moreki’s second victim of the match.
We’ve witnessed a great exhibition of T20 cricket in Abu Dhabi over the last three days and we’ve enjoyed every minute of it. #AbuDhabiT20
— The Titans (@Titans_Cricket) October 6, 2018
Well done to this year’s winners... the @lahoreqalandars 🏆 pic.twitter.com/JHrafIuhPj
Moreki struck again in the same over to dismiss Agha Salman for a duck and Titans piled more misery when when Shaun Von Berg removed danger man Akhtar for 56 as Qalandars reached 148-6.
Titans’ innings didn’t get off tho the best of starts when Maaz Khan dismissed openers Henry Davids and Tony de Zorzi in his first two overs which reduced them to 10-2. While Theunis de Bruyn (37) and Rivaldo Moonsamy (27) put on 60 for the third wicket, Qalandars bowlers’ struck to their game at the death as Titans reached 133-6.
Former South Africa international Albie Morkel, who scored 11 runs, insists there’s a lot of positives his side can take from the three-day event.
“I’m very proud of the guys and we had a bit of bad patches in the game but congratulations to Lahore Qalandars,” said the 37-year-old all-rounder. “A lot of players made a name for themselves and we can take a lot of positives from this. We will be flying home tomorrow and will get ready for a long season.”
Earlier in the afternoon, Titans booked their place in the final after thrashing Auckland Aces by eight wickets.
Von Borg was the stand-out bowler with figures of 4-15 as Aces were all out for 80 in 16 overs.
Titans just needed 12.1 overs to reach their target with de Zorzi, who scored a century in Friday’s opening win against Boost Defenders, top-scoring with 34.
FINAL BRIEF SCORES:
Lahore Qalandars 148 for 6 in 20 overs (Sohail Akhtar 56, Mohammed Faizan 32, Paul Salt 26, Tshepo Moreki 3-33, Shaun von Berg 2-28) beat Multiply Titans 133 for 6 in 20 overs (Theunis de Bruyn 37, Rivaldo Moonsamy 27, Mazz Khan 2-23, Shaheen Afridi 2-28).
