Taufeeq who is being considered a specialist batsman for Test matches, batted with immense responsibility after his team lost two quick wickets at a total of 18. Salman Butt made 7 and Kamran Akmal went for a duck and fell to Pakistan fast bowler Shabbir Ahmed.

Taufeeq scored 64 off 41 balls and hit one six and nine fours. He added 67 runs for the third wicket with Abid Ali.

The Eagles also lost two wickets due to some alert fielding by Multan Tigers as Abid Ali (20) and Ashfaq Ahmed (17) were run out while stealing close singles. The Eagles amassed 183 for 8 in the allotted 20 overs.

Set to achieve a possible target of 184, the Tigers started well and were hoping for a win at 102 for 3 after 13 overs but then slow left arm bowler Sohail Ahmed tamed them with his nagging line and length. The middle order collapsed and Tigers were restricted to 161 for 9.

Only opener Kamran Hussain showed resistance to make 66 off 39 balls. He hit two sixes and eight fours. Asif Iqbal (22), Hasnain Abbas (19) and Aamer Bashir (18) were other notable scores. Sohail claimed 4 for 30. Ali Azmat got 2 for 24.

Taufiee who also got a wicket was declared Man of the Match.

(Article: The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author only.
Copyright © 2005 Asif Sohail)