The Stallions proved their supremacy yet again in the Champions One-Day Cup. They overpowered the Dolphins in Faisalabad, scoring a striking win by 174 runs. Despite their best efforts, the Dolphins faced a third straight loss. This happened as they buckled under an unyielding 104-point game from Babar Azam. His game gave the Stallions a formidable score to lead. As has been typical in this tournament, every victorious team so far, all seven, have been chose to bat first.
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Stallions’ Strong Start Sets the Foundation
The openers, Shan Masood and Yasir Khan, provided the Stallions a decent start after winning the toss to bat first, reaching 76 for the first wicket in only 13 overs. It was a good start to a strong platform. Masood played an important role in the beginning, while Yasir Khan carried on with all his might. However, entering the scene, Dolphins’ bowler Faheem Ashraf removed Masood to break this stand and pegged the run rate back in the middle overs.
Soon, Masood was sent back to the pavilion and was followed by Yasir, but a confident Babar Azam arrived to anchor the innings. Playing a classic captain’s knock, Babar intelligently paced his innings, never allowing the Stallions to lose momentum. His 57-run partnership with Tayyab Tahir for the third wicket was just what the team needed to reach 150 by the 30th over.
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Babar Azam: A Masterclass in Anchoring the Innings
The Dolphins’ bowlers steadily got wickets. Still, Babar Azam stood like a rock. He hit the fifty-run mark after 65 balls, taking his own time. His partners were finding runs hard to come by. At the 40-over mark, Babar was just on fifty and ready to step on the gas. In the last ten overs, Babar Azam let loose, making 54 runs in the next 35 balls. His knock included three fours and three sixes, enabling the Stallions to set a hard target of 271 for 7 in their 50 overs. Babar’s magnificent 104, not out of 100, was a balance of skill and measured aggression, showing why he’s one of the top batsmen in global cricket.
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Dolphins’ Struggle Against Jahandad’s New Ball Spell
Chasing 271, Dolphins’ hopes of registering their first win in the Champions One-Day Cup were effectively nullified early as Jahandad Khan made an impact with the new ball. He accounted for Muhammad Hurraira’s wicket with just the second ball of the innings to put Dolphins on the back foot, a position from which they never recovered.
It wasn’t long before Jahandad brought about more destruction, removing Umar Amin for 9 off his third over and trapping LBW as the Dolphins hobbled to 15 for 2. Sahibzada Farhan and Saud Shakeel launched a brief counterattack in response, putting on five boundaries in as many balls. However, it wasn’t to last. Jahandad came up with trumps again, cleaned up bowling Shakeel, and made sure the Dolphins never got into a rhythm in their chase.
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Dolphins’ Collapse: A Bowling Show by Stallions
The collapse perpetuated as Haris Rauf joined in the act, sending both Sarfaraz Ahmed and Qasim Akram back in the space of three deliveries. With the Dolphins sinking to 60 for 5, their middle order failed to show any sort of resistance. Under the circumstances, the Stallions’ spin duo of Abrar Ahmed and Mehran Mumtaz cashed in, sharing five wickets between themselves to decimate the Dolphins’ lower order.
Farhan’s 32 was the solitary glimpse of resistance by the Dolphins, but once he fell, the end came rather rapidly. The Dolphins folded for a paltry 97, their lowest total of the tournament, to lose by a thumping 174 runs.
Jahandad finished off with figures of 3 for 18, while Mehran Mumtaz was even better with a spell that took three wickets for just 14 runs. The bowlers simply kept tormenting batsmen, and the Dolphins bowed out in just 26 overs.
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Conclusion
The champion team, Stallions, beat Dolphins in theChampions One-Day Cup, for which Babar Azam scored a century while Jahandad Khan took wickets with the new ball. The Stallions cashed in on a superb batting performance coupled with an excellent bowling display to defeat Dolphins for the third time in succession in the tournament. With this victory, Stallions has established a mark as one of the better teams in this competition, while Dolphins have to go back to the drawing board to ensure that further defeats are at a minimum.
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