Stallions won by 133 runs
Player Of The Match
76 (79)
No one apart from Imam-ul-Haq showed fight in the 337-run chase as Lions went down by 133 runs
Babar Azam scored 76 in 79 balls • PCB
Stallions 336 for 5 (Babar 76, Tahir 74, Haris 55, Talat 50, Jamal 2-60) beat Lions 203 (Imam 78, Haris 3-43, Ali 2-18) by 133 runs
Babar Azam top-scored with 76 to help Stallions thump Shaheen Shah Afridi‘s Lions by 133 runs in the second match of the Champions Cup in Faisalabad. Half-centuries from four batters, including Tayyab Tahir, captain Mohammad Haris and Hussain Talat, helped Stallions amass 336 for 5 in their 50 overs.
It was a team effort with the ball, too, with all six Stallions bowlers among the wickets. Haris Rauf picked up three wickets before Mohammad Ali‘s 2 for 18 set the tone up top for a dominant Stallions performance as Lions failed to get stuck into the chase. Imam-ul-Haq offered the only real resistance, and though his 78 was the highest score of the match, none of his team-mates managed even 30.
Stallions got off to a slow but steady start after their captain Haris elected to bat. Shan Masood and Babar struck up a 39-run partnership to pick up the pace before left-arm wristspinner Faisal Akram cleaned up Masood. Babar, who trudged through the first half of his innings, soon found his rhythm, guiding his side through the middle overs alongside Tahir, whose breezy 74 came off just 72 balls. It set the stage for blistering cameos from Haris and Talat towards the end, with 118 runs coming off the final ten overs.
Ali, who had an inconsistent Test series against Bangladesh, struck in the first over of the chase to remove wicketkeeper-batter Sajjad Ali. He followed it up by getting rid of Abdullah Shafique in the fifth over. Lions kept losing wickets at regular intervals but Imam fought a lone hand. The asking rate, though, was always rising, and the game was over as a contest by the time Jahandad Khan trapped him in front.
Shaheen, who had an indifferent day with the ball, managed a late flurry with the bat to get his side over 200 before Rauf returned to dismiss him and Sirajuddin, rubber-stamping a routine victory.
Danyal Rasool is ESPNcricinfo’s Pakistan correspondent. @Danny61000
