Heroes humble Badshahs to lift ICL Twenty20 title

Local favourite Hyderabad Heroes pipped Lahore Badshahs in a pulsating bowl-out in the second final to claim the ICL Twenty20 tournament at Lal Bahadur Shastri stadium in Hyderabad on Sunday night.

The local favourites edged out the Lahore side 3-0 in the bowl out after the match ended in a thrilling tie.

Heroes had beaten Badshahs in the first final on Friday to go ahead 1-0 in the best of three-finals.

Electing to bat, Badshahs managed 130 for nine but failed to win despite a brilliant bowling by its pace bowlers.

Badshahs were outplayed in the bowl out as Rana Naved ul Hasan, Shahid Nazir and Naveed Latif missed the first three hits while Heroes struck thrice in the four chances.

Nicky Boje, Inder Shekar Reddy and skipper Chris Harris were bang on target that sealed the championship title for the Heroes.

After a lethal spell of fast bowling, Naved faltered in the final over by bowling two no-balls and a wide only to help Heroes level the scores, which stretched the match to bowl-out.

Naved took five for 22 while Ambati Rayudu (46) top scored for the Heroes.

Earlier, the fast-spin combo of Inder Shekar Reddy and Stuart Binny bowled in tandem to restrict the formidable Lahore Badshahs to 130 for nine in their quota of 20 overs after Inzamam ul-Haq had decided to bat.

Reddy accounted for four batsmen while Binny, with his spin magic, sent back three willowers as they ran through the opponent's batting line up.

Imran Nazir (30) and Taufeeq Umar (13) provided a steady start to Badshahs by putting up 34 runs for the opening wicket but once the openers went back to pavilion, their innings never settled.

Losing wickets at regular intervals resulted in a modest run-rate, which did not allow the Badhshas to put up a competitive score.

At number three, Imran Farhat, with his fluent 30 run-knock, put up a good resistance but did not find an able ally at the other end.

Farhat eventually fell prey to beautiful stumping by Ibrahim Khaleel off Binny and his dismissal proved too costly for Badshahs as no other batsman, but for Azhar Mahmood, could manage a double-digit score after his departure.

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