Babar, Tahir fifties, Rauf three-for sets up big Stallions win

Stallions 336 for 5 (Babar 76, Tayyab Tahir 74, Haris 55, Aamer Jamal 2-60) beat Lions 203 all out (Imam 78, Haris 3-43, Ali 2-18) by 133 runs

It was a team effort with the ball too with all six Stallions bowlers among the wickets. Haris Rauf led the pack with three wickets, while Mohammad Ali‘s 2 for 18 set the tone up top for a dominant Stallions performance as Lions failed to get stuck into the chase. Imam-ul-Haq offered the only real resistance, and though his 78 was the highest score of the match, none of his team-mates even managed 30.

Stallions captain Haris elected to bat, getting off to a slow but steady start. Shan Masood and Babar struck up a 39-run partnership to pick up the pace before spinner Faisal Akram cleaned Masood up. Babar, who trudged through the first half of his innings, soon found his rhythm, guiding his side through the middle overs alongside Tahir, whose breezy 74 came off just 72 balls. It would set the stage for blistering cameos from Haris and Talat towards the death, with 118 runs coming off the final ten overs.

Ali, who had an inconsistent Test series against Bangladesh, struck in his first over to remove wicketkeeper-batter Sajjad Ali. He followed up by getting rid of Abdullah Shafique in his third over. Lions kept losing wickets at regular intervals as Imam fought a lone hand. But the asking rate was always rising and the game was over as a contest by the time Jehandad Khan trapped him in front.

Shaheen, who had an indifferent day with the ball, managed a late flurry with the bat to get his side over 200 before Rauf returned to clean him and Sirajuddin up, rubber-stamping what was in truth a routine victory.

Danyal Rasool is ESPNcricinfo’s Pakistan correspondent. @Danny61000

Source: ESPN Crickinfo

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