T10 League: Tamim stars for Pakhtoons

Sports Desk: Bangladesh opener Tamim Iqbal's unbeaten half-century and England left-arm spinner Liam Dawson's vital strikes helped Pakhtoons defeat Team Sri Lanka in the T10 League at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium, reports khaleejtimes.com on Saturday morning.

The 27-run victory saw the Pakhtoons become the only team to finish up with two wins from two fixtures. The Shahid Afridi-led side had beaten the Maratha Arabians in their first game on Thursday night.

Chasing a target of 112, Team Sri Lanka wound up at 84 for 7 in their allotment of 10 overs.

Earlier, opener Tamim Iqbal scored an unbeaten half-century as the Pakhtoons finished up on Nelson - 111 for 6.

The southpaw from Bangladesh held one end up well despite wickets falling at regular intervals. The 28-year-old from Chittagong strode to a fine 56 from 27 balls with five boundaries and four sixes.

Opener Ahmed Shehzad came up with a handy 12-ball 24, which included five boundaries. Liam Dawson made a 12-ball 11 with a lone boundary, while captain Shahid Afridi scored seven from two balls with one six.



The rest of them all made single figures with the prolific Fakhar Zaman out for a nought this time, caught by Lahiru Madushanka off Fernando.

Left-arm pacer Vishwa Fernando picked up two wickets for 15 in his two overs, while off-spinner Shehan Jayasuriya took two for 19 from his two overs.

Team Sri Lanka had a nightmarish start to the chase with both their openers gone with just three runs on the board.

Their captain Dinesh Chandimal was to become left-arm spinner Liam Dawson's first of two victims, the other being Dilshan Munaweera, with the former caught by Afridi and the latter gobbled up by Shehzad.

This was after the towering Mohammad Irfan had peppered Munaweera with some perfume balls, to rattle the Lankans.

Bhanuka Rajapaksa followed later after making 13 from eight balls with a boundary and a six. So too did Shehan Jayasuriya and Team Sri Lanka were tottering at 25 for four.

Wanindu Hasaranga and Ramith Rambukwella steadied things a bit with the former taking a special liking to Afridi's leg-breaks, picking two boundaries off him.

There was some semblance of a fire fight from the duo but those were soon extinguished after Hasaranga was run out.

His 31 came from 12 balls and included three boundaries and two sixes. Rambukwella, meanwhile, scored 18 from 15 balls with a boundary and a six.

Team Sri Lanka could only muster 84 for seven.



risingbd/Dhaka/Dec 16, 2017/Nasim