KARACHI, March 8 Sialkot Stallions confirmed yet again that they are the undisputed national champions of the RBS Twenty20 Cup after deflating Faisalabad Wolves in a lop-sided final at the National Stadium here on Sunday night.

The Stallions were simply unstoppable in lifting their fifth consecutive title in the sixth edition of the popular event. The Wolves, winners of the inaugural championship in 2004-05, sadly failed to repeat their impressive display in the previous three games as suffered the humiliation of being bundled out for the lowest total in all six finals.

The Stallions suffered no such hiccups despite losing half their side in the modest 110-run chase, to deservingly earn the champions' purse of Rs2.5 million offered by sponsors Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and bring the curtains on a tournament marred by substandard umpiring and allegations of ball-tampering from some quarters.

Even two brief stoppages, caused by a few idiots — among an animated capacity turnout of 35,000 — who hurled stones and plastic bottles, failed to douse the Stallions' dominance.

The Wolves clearly lacked game plan from the moment the match began after Misbah-ul-Haq, correctly decided to bat first having won the toss. They repeated virtually the same mistakes the Karachi Dolphins committed in their semi-final loss to the Stallions. After Mohammad Asif removed Asif Hussain for a golden duck with the second delivery of the match, the Wolves unnecessarily sacrificed wicket-keeper Mohammad Salman - otherwise a useful man to have in the middle-order — at No 3.

With tons of T20 cricket experience behind him, Misbah, quite inexplicably, didn't come to the crease at usual number and held himself back until the inspirational Mohammad Hafeez was dismissed in tragic circumstances at 46-4.

Hafeez, who remained unfazed by wickets tumbling at the other end, continued from where he had left off when he scored the tournament's only century (100 off 53 balls) in the semi-final against Lahore Lions the evening before.

Having carted Abdul Razzaq for a brace of breathtaking sixes in the previous over, Hafeez (29 off 23 balls), was run out when a Khurram Shahzad drive cannoned into the stumps at the non-striker end off bowler Abdul Rehman's hand.

Other than Hafeez, only Misbah made some sort of a contribution (27 off 28 balls) before holing out to midwicket fence where Shahid Yousuf didn't have to budge an inch to gleefully accept the high catch. Shahid Nazir, finishing on unbeaten 18, assisted Misbah in adding 33, which was the best of the Wolves' partnerships.

Asif was at his miserly best as only nine runs came off his four overs. Rehman was also tidy in taking 2-17 as were Rana Naved-ul-Hasan (1-24) and the gangling Sarfraz Ahmed (1-22), while Razzaq also bagged two wickets but his four overs went yielded 37 runs.

Guest player Razzaq, however, had the last laugh since after scoring a 26-ball 24, he was declared by match referee Anwer Khan as the recipient of the Rs50,000 Man-of-the-Match. Rana Naved and Shahid Yousuf also played their part with the bat. Naved, used a pinch-hitter throughout the tournament bludgeoned five fours and one towering six on his way to 27 off 21 balls. Shahid, 21 not out off 33 deliveries, was the calming influence for his side as he battled through 80 minutes, mainly to play out off-spinner Saeed Ajmal who could have dented the Stallions had the Wolves made 150 instead of 109.

Shoaib Malik, who held a brilliant catch off Rehman but later fell for just one, proudly collected the winners' cup as well as the big cash bounty from the PCB chairman Ijaz Butt. A disconsolate Misbah had to settle for Rs1 million runners-up prize and the trophy.

Hafeez's 181 runs in four matches were enough to win the Rs30,000 best batsman award. His team-mate Salman shared the wicket-keeper prize with Multan Tigers' Gulraiz Sadaf after both finished with identical number of dismissals (four catches and two stumpings). The best fielder award was equally divided between Shahid Yousuf and Lahore Lions' Umar Akmal after the duo held five catches apiece. Aizaz bin Ilyas, the Lahore Lions paceman, the outright winner of the best bowler prize with 11 wickets.

Scoreboard

FAISALABAD WOLVES
Mohammad Hafeez run out 29
Asif Hussain b Asif 0
M. Salman c Naved b Razzaq 5
Ali Waqas c Shakeel b Razzaq 5
Khurram Shahzad lbw b Rehman 6
Misbah-ul-Haq c Shahid b Sarfraz 27
Zeeshan Asif c Shoaib b Rehman 2
Shahid Nazir not out 18
Mohammad Talha b Naved 7
Saeed Ajmal run out 5

EXTRAS (W-1, NB-4) 5
TOTAL (for nine wkts, 20 overs) 109
FALL OF WKTS 1-1, 2-8, 3-19, 4-46, 5-48, 6-56, 7-89, 8-103, 9-109.
DID NOT BAT Asad Ali.

BOWLING Mohammad Asif 4-0-9-1; Abdul Razzaq 4-0-37-2 (1nb); Abdul Rehman 4-0-17-2; Sarfraz Ahmed 4-0-22-1 (1w); Rana Naved-ul-Hasan 4-0-24-1 (1nb).

SIALKOT STALLIONS
Imran Nazir c Asif Hussain b Talha 10
Mansoor Amjad run out 0
R. Naved-ul-Hasan c Asad b Saeed 27
Shahid Yousuf not out 21
Shoaib Malik c Salman b Shahid 1
Abdul Razzaq b Asad 24
Adeel Malik not out 14

EXTRAS (LB-5, W-4, NB-4) 13
TOTAL (for five wkts, 16.3 overs) 110
FALL OF WKTS 1-10, 2-18, 3-55, 4-56, 5-94.
DID NOT BAT Shakeel Ansar, Abdul Rehman, Sarfraz Ahmed, Mohammad Asif.

BOWLING Mohammad Talha 3-0-45-1 (1nb); Asad Ali 4-1-13-1 (1nb, 1w); Shahid Nazir 3.3-0-24-1 (1w); Saeed Ajmal 4-0-15-1 (1w); Mohammad Hafeez 2-0-8-0 (1w).

RESULT Sialkot Stallions won by five wickets.
UMPIRES Ahsan Raza and Zameer Haider.
TV UMPIRE Anis-ur-Rehman.
MATCH REFEREE Anwer Khan.
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH Abdul Razzaq.