LAHORE – Team Orient clinched the Pepsi Cup CPL T20 Cricket Championship glittering trophy after defeating Ufone by 35 runs in the final played here at the Railways Stadium on Sunday.
Ufone team won the toss and decided to bowl first. The decision couldn’t prove fruitful for Ufone, as Orient batted strongly and posted a huge total of 190/9 on the board in the allotted 20 overs. Kamran Rafi played the remarkable knock of 40-ball 72 runs while he ably assisted by his teammate Irfan Raza who also smashed 72 runs butt off 52 balls. Another key contributor from Orient was Usman Ali who slammed 36 runs off 20 balls. Dilshad Ahmad bagged 2 wickets for 29 runs while Faheem Khan got 1 wicket for 40.
Ufone though replied in a decent way but couldn’t maintain their momentum till the end and kept on losing key wickets, thus could score 155/8 in 20 overs, thus lost the final by 35 runs. Ahsan Zaidi was top scorer from Ufone as he struck 41-ball 47 runs while Ali Sikandar contributed with 26-ball 34 runs. From Orient, Irfan Raza and Muntzar Shah bowled brilliantly and grabbed 2 wickets each for 38 and 40 runs respectively.
Jahanzaib Butt Food National Trade Manager Pepsi Co International graced the final as chief guest while the guests of honour were Zeeshan Zaidi from Pakistan Railway, Irfan Ali from Brighto Paints, Zeeshan Ahmad from Metro Times News and Ahsan Zaki Chairman Lahore CPS Club while players and their families as well as cricket enthusiasts were also present on the occasion. In the end, chief guest Jahanzaib Butt gave away winning trophy to Orient team captain Abdul Rehman Tallat.
For his brilliant batting display, Kamran Rafi of Orient was adjudged as player of the final and he was also awarded the best batsman award. Faheem Khan emerged as player of the tournament as well as the best bowler, Moazam Ali best wicketkeeper, Hassan Nasir best fielder and Ch Anser as top sixer of the tournament.
