RAWALPINDI: Saad Nasim played a gem of an innings as Lahore Lions retained their Faysal Bank T20 Cup crown after their final against Faisalabad Wolves went down to the wire in a three-wicket victory here at the Pindi Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

The 23-year-old right-handed Saad, famous for his T20 exploits, came to the party when it was needed most with a superlative run-a-ball 43 that eventually saw the Lions scamper home on the very last delivery of the match.

Saad’s knock, embellished with four boundaries and one six, deservingly made him the recipient for the Rs50,000 man-of-the-match shortly after Imran Ali scored the winning single that also sealed the Lions a spot in the next Champions League.

But what event before made it a memorable occasion for the huge crowd much higher in excess of the 22,000-capacity stadium.

Despite missing the usual sparks of power hitting associated with the shortest format it turned on its head at the death after Lions fumbled in their chase for a relatively modest 131 on definitely the best pitch laid out.

Cruising at 86-3 and requiring 45 from the last seven overs with Umar Akmal still to come, the Lions had the title-decider under their grasp until the Wolves derailed them with three wickets in 22 balls for the addition of 19 runs.

With Nasir Jamshed (14), Mohammad Hafeez (6) and Ahmed Shehzad (16) hitherto already back in the dugout, it was anybody’s game.

Asad Ali taking two wickets in two balls infused great excitement even though the paceman and his team-mates were extremely lucky to convince umpire Kamal Merchant to belatedly adjudge Umar Akmal caught behind.

Television replays, however, showed Umar’s dismissal as a massive howler watched by millions at home.

The apparent noise Kamal heard was clearly of the bat grazing the ground as the ball whistled through to the wicket-keeper. With a dejected look on his face, the devastated Umar trudged off at a funereal pace.

This was another example of the number of umpiring blunders in this tournament, a sign that merit is certainly not the criteria for match officials’ appointments.

And despite this being a final, as usual no attention was paid to the fact only those officials who can handle the intense pressure with a touch of calmness and confidence should have been preferred.

Poor Kamal had also erred earlier when Nasir Jamshed shouldn’t have been reprieved to a LBW shout but it didn’t prove costly because Khurram Shehzad got his man held at point.

After winning the toss and Misbah opting to bat first, the Wolves’ hopes of getting at least 145 faded when in a mad dash five wickets crashed for two runs in space of 10 deliveries.

Wahab Riaz and Aizaz Cheema returning in the death overs each grabbed two wickets with Wahab being denied a hat-trick after Mohammad Salman and Mohammad Talha departed.

Talha’s dismissal was a comical sight for the full house as the Pakistan paceman moved far too across while the ball crashing into the stumps.

Ali Waqas was the cornerstone of the Wolves’ innings with an audacious knock of 63 from 52 deliveries.

The left-hander, who adorned his fine contribution with five fours plus two sixes off Hafeez and one apiece off Imran Ali and Asif Raza, put on 67 in 55 balls with Misbah (27 off 33 balls, two boundaries).

The major difference that separated two evenly-match outfits was probably fielding. The Lions were simply brilliant at times. Nasir Jamshed removed the dangerous Farrukh Shehzad — who had struck an unbeaten career-best 84 in Saturday’s semi-final win over Abbottabad Falcons — with an excellent catch off Hafeez.

Ahmed Shehzad took a good tumbling catch just inside the long-on boundary to see the back of Asif Ali before holding on to a fine running chance when Saeed Ajmal tried to get a big hit on the last ball of the innings.

In between those catches, Adnan Rasool also scooped a good one when he dived forward from third man to grab the slash from Misbah who was told to stay as the on-field umpires sought the services of their TV colleague to judge the legality of the effort from the off-spinner.

Senator Mushahidullah Khan graced the final as chief guest, while Faysal Bank CEO Naveed A. Khan awarded the winners’ trophy to a beaming Lions captain Hafeez in addition to Rs2 million purse in prize money. Misbah received the runners-up trophy and Rs1 million.

Hafeez also pocketed the best all-rounder prize for 152 runs and five wickets in the competition, Abbottabad Falcons captain Younis Khan won the best batsman for scoring 201 runs, while Aizaz Cheema’s 11 wickets earned him the best bowler award.

Scoreboard

FAISALABAD WOLVES:

Farrukh Shehzad c Nasir b Hafeez 1

Ali Waqas c Saad b Hafeez 63

Khurram Shehzad c Wahab b Imran 11

Misbah-ul-Haq c Adnan b Aizaz 27

Asif Ali c Ahmed b Asif 11

Imran Khalid run out 0

Mohammad Salman c Umar Akmal b Wahab 0

Mohammad Talha b Wahab 0

Saeed Ajmal c Ahmed b Aizaz 1

Ehsan Adil not out 5

EXTRAS (LB-5, W-4, NB-2) 11

TOTAL (for nine wkts, 20 overs) 130

FALL OF WKTS: 1-7, 2-35, 3-102, 4-122, 5-123, 6-124, 7-124, 8-124, 9-130.

DID NOT BAT: Asad Ali.

BOWLING: Aizaz Cheema 4-0-29-2 (1w); Mohammad Hafeez 4-0-20-2; Wahab Riaz 4-0-11-2 (1w); Adnan Rasool 3-0-21-0 (1w); Imran Ali 4-0-28-1 (1w); Asif Raza 1-0-16-1 (1nb).

LAHORE LIONS:

Nasir Jamshed c Farrukh b Khurram 14

Ahmed Shehzad b Imran 16

Mohammad Hafeez c Salman b Asad 6

Umar Siddique c Salman b Talha 11

Saad Nasim not out 43

Umar Akmal c Salman b Asad 14

Asif Raza b Asad 0

Wahab Riaz run out 5

Imran Ali not out 1

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-2, W-14, NB-4) 21

TOTAL (for seven wkts, 20 overs) 131

FALL OF WKTS: 1-20, 2-40, 3-46, 4-91, 5-110, 6-110, 7-126.

DID NOT BAT: Adnan Rasool, Aizaz Cheema.

BOWLING: Mohammad Talha 4-0-31-1 (1w); Khurram Shehzad 2-0-9-1 (2w); Asad Ali 4-0-32-3 (1nb, 1w); Ehsan Adil 4-0-33-0 (1nb, 1w); Saeed Ajmal 4-0-11-0 (1w); Imran Khalid 2-0-12-1 (3w).

RESULT: Lahore Lions won by three wickets.

UMPIRES: Ahsan Raza and Kamal Merchant.

TV UMPIRE: Ahmed Shahab.

MATCH REFEREE: Khateeb Rizwan.

OFFICIAL SCORER: Shakeel Ahmed.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Saad Nasim.