Lahore Lions beat Mumbai Indians by 6 wickets in their first CLT20 encounter on Saturday.
In reply to Mumbai’s 135, Lahore began their innings with Ahmed Shehzad and Nasir Jamshed, who playing cautiously, took the score to 29/0 in the first 5 overs. They switched to the aggressive mode and started slamming the ball all around the park, until the partnership was broken by Ojha, who claimed Shehzad for 34 in the 8th over. Mohammad Hafeez joined the action and took the score quickly to 95/1 in 10 overs, but Jamshed departed in a couple of balls, falling to Harbhajan for 26. The 13th over saw Saad Nasim fall to Ojha for 6, bringing Umar Akmal into the middle. Akmal brought in ominous news for the Mumbai side, lashing out at the bowlers. Mohammad Hafeez was the next wicket to fall, taken by Pollard for 18 in the 16th over. It was 100/4 at the end of the 16th over.
Afiz Raja walked into the middle with 36 required off 24 deliveries and almost immediately took charge, reducing the required runs to 11 from the last two overs. Umar Akmal (38) took charge and sped away with the match scoring all his last runs in boundaries.
Earlier, Lahore Lions won the toss and invited Mumbai Indians to bat first. Minus their key man Corey Anderson, who they decided to leave out, Mike Hussey and Lendl Simmons opened the account for Mumbai, but it wasn’t long before Cheema began to tear in. In the 4th over, he took Simmons for 7 and Jalaj for 0, reducing the score to 21/2 in 4 overs. The third wicket came in the form of Rayudu, who was scalped by Asif Raja in the very next over for 3.
Tare and Hussey joined hands to steer Mumbai to 62/3 in 10 overs. The celebrations, however, were short-lived, as Hussey departed in the 11th over, taken by Wahab Riaz for 28. Pollard was the new man in and with Tare, he proceeded carefully to take the team to 91/4. Pollard departed in the next over, done in by Imran Ali for 6, bringing Harbhajan Singh into action. Tare was the next casualty, falling to Riaz for 37 in the 18th over, followed by Harbhajan in the 19th, wrapping up the Mumbai innings at 135/7.