Lahore Blues wins National T20 Cup, Imam-ul-Haq scores a not out half-century

Pakistan’s National T20 Cup finals have been won by the Lahore Blues beating the Lahore Whites in the finals at the Pindi stadium in Rawalpindi.

Salman Butt led Lahore Whites won the toss and elected to bat first. Akmal and Butt who recently combined together for the record unbroken 209 run partnership during the group stage game once again gave the side good start at the top. It was Akmal who had taken the charge during the partnership as he scored 150 runs off just 70 balls. Akmal fell early in the finals and after his wicket, the Whites failed to capitalize on the good start. Skipper Butt held on to his end but couldn’t score freely and eventually ended up playing 59 balls for 62* runs. Not many contributions from the middle-order batsmen meant that they could only manage 122 runs for the loss of 6 wickets after 20 overs. Atif Jabbar was the most successful bowler for the Blues as he returned with figures of 2-24 in his quota of 4 overs.

Chasing the target in the finals always comes with a lot of pressure but Blues opener Mohammed Shehzad and his partner at the top Imam-ul-Haq started their innings brilliantly. Shehzad got out with scorecard reading 43-1 in the fifth over.

Imam-ul-Haq and Mohammed Hafeez after the first wicket started building their innings as 21-year-old Haq played brilliantly during his innings. He hit seven boundaries and a six and remained not out for 62 runs. The target wasn’t a big one and once Haq and Hafeez were set, they started playing without much pressure and took the game away from Whites. Imam-ul-Haq got the man of the match award for his match-winning half-century in the finals.

Pakistan’s interior minister Ahsan Iqbal handed the trophy to the Blue’s skipper Hafeez. He was the chief guest for the game. The winners got Rs 2,000,000 as the prize money while the runners-up received Rs 1,000,000.

Lahore White’s Umar Akmal scored heavily during the tournament and got the best batsmen in the tournament. Akmal amassed 432 runs during the series. He got RS 50,000 while Umaid Asif received the best bowler in the tournament award for grabbing 14 wickets. He received Rs 50,000 as a cash prize. Hammad Azam received a prize money of Rs 50,000 as he was declared best all-rounder of the tournament.