Babar, bowlers give Stallions thumping victory over Dolphins

MULTAN: Babar Azam’s unbeaten century, followed by a combined bowling effort led Stallions to a massive victory over Dolphins in the seventh match of the Champions One-Day Cup here at Iqbal Stadium on Thursday.

Set to chase 272, the Dolphins’ batting unit skittled for a meagre 97 in 25 overs.

The Dolphins found themselves in a state of bother right from the start as they lost their opener Mohammad Huraira (0) on just the second delivery of the innings.

The wickets kept tumbling while experienced opener Sahibzada Farhan stood firm on the other hand.

Farhan’s retaliation finally ended in the 16th over as he faltered against Abrar Ahmed. He remained the top-scorer for the Dolphins with a gutsy 32 off 36 balls with the help of six boundaries.

Besides Farhan, Asif Ali (21) was the other Dolphins batter to offer some resistance against a disciplined Stallions bowling attack while the rest failed.

Jahandad Khan and Mehran Mumtaz bagged three wickets each for the Stallions while Abrar and Haris Rauf took two each.

Follow us on our Official WhatsApp channel

Stallions’ captain Mohammad Haris’ decision to bat first after winning the toss, turned out beneficial for his team as they amassed a commendable total of 271/7 in the allotted overs.

Opening batters Yasir Khan and Shan Masood gave Stallions a head start with a 76-run stand, culminating with the latter’s dismissal in the 13th over.

Masood scored a brisk 34 off 36 deliveries with the help of three boundaries.

With Masood’s dismissal, Babar Azam came out to Bat at No.3 and joined Yasir Khan.

The duo, however, shared a brief partnership, which yielded only 17 runs as Dolphins skipper Saud Shakeel trapped Yasir lbw on the first delivery of the 17th over.

The opening batter fell agonizingly short of his well-deserved half-century, scoring 46 off 58 deliveries and hit five boundaries.

Babar was then involved in an anchoring third-wicket partnership with Tayyab Tahir. The pair added 57 runs to the Stallions’ total until Tahir fell victim to Qasim Akram in the 30th over.

Tahir scored a cautious 33 off 49 deliveries with the help of four fours.

Following Tahir’s dismissal, the Stallions began to lose wickets at regular intervals but Babar Azam held his ground firm and kept the scoreboard ticking single-handedly.

The star batter eventually reached his century on the penultimate delivery of the innings when he hit Mir Hamza for a four.

He ran for a couple on the final delivery of the Stallions’ innings and thus remained unbeaten with 100-ball 104, laced up with seven fours and three sixes.

For the Dolphins, Hamza, Qasim, Saud, Faheem Ashraf, Abbas Afridi and Sufiyan Muqeem made one scalp each.

For the unversed, the Dolphins are yet to win a game in the ongoing Champions One-Day Cup and are at the bottom of the standings with zero points while the Stallions are at third position with 14 points.

READ: Ton-up Ashwin steers India out of trouble against Bangladesh