RAWALPINDI: Debutant Afaq Afridi registered the first hat-trick of the Champions T20 Cup and powered the Lions to a seven-wicket victory over bottom-placed Dolphins in the 18th match of the tournament here at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium on Friday.
The right-arm pacer reached the milestone in the Dolphins’ 10th innings by dismissing Faheem Ashraf (three), Mohammad Abbas Afridi and Shayan Sheikh in successive deliveries.
Afaq Afridi, who also bowled out the Dolphins’ opening two wicketkeepers Sahibzada Farhan and Waqar Ahmed, returned with brilliant bowling figures of 5/18 in his four overs and was therefore named player of the match.
He was supported by fellow pacer Musa Khan, who took four wickets for just 14 runs in his four overs, while Khushdil Shah scored with a knock.
For the Dolphins, opener Waqar remained with his run-a-ball 16, while Awais Ali (15) and Mohammad Rameez Jr were the other batsmen to accumulate double figures.
In response, the Lions comfortably chased down the modest target of 72 runs, losing just three wickets and 66 balls to spare.
The Imam-ul-Haq-led side, however, had a shaky start to the innings as they lost two wickets in the first over with just two runs on the board.
After the opening knock, Mohammad Taha joined hands with Omair Bin Yousuf and put his team at bay with a 66-run partnership.
Omair fell victim to Abbas after scoring the best goal with a 30-ball 34 in the penultimate delivery of the ninth over.
Coming out to bat at number five, Khushdil immediately smashed Abbas for a boundary to seal a seven-wicket victory for his side.
Middle-order batsman Mohammad Taha remained unbeaten with a 19-ball 28, laced with four boundaries.
For the Dolphins, Faheem took two wickets while Abbas picked one.
The seven-wicket victory propelled the Lions to the top of the Champions T20 Cup standings with 10 points from eight matches, while the winless Dolphins remained bottom.
