Lahore Badshahs defeat Hyderabad Heroes by 4 wickets

Imran Farhat declared man of the match

Detailed Scores
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Lahore Badshahs beat Chennai Superstars by 6 wickets

Inzamam Ul Haq was declared man of the match

Ahmedabad: The first semifinal ICL 20s Indian Championship featured the clash of the titans, with former champions Chennai Superstars take on last years’ finalist Lahore Badshahs at the Sardar Patel stadium Ahmedabad. In the end it was the Lahore Badshahs who proved their might with a comprehensive 6 wicket victory over the talented Chennai Superstars, to storm into their second straight ICL finals. Inzamam Ul Haq was declared man of the match for his brilliant half century.
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Imran Nazir declared man of the match

Imran Nazir & Imran Farhat set fastest fifty-partnership world record

The 16th match of the ICL 20s Indian Championship featured the two ICL sides Mumbai Champs and Lahore Badshahs representing the cricketing nerve centers of India & Pakistan respectively, battle it out at the Sardar Patel stadium Ahmedabad. In the end it was a Lahore Badshahs night scoring a comprehensive win by 8 wickets, to register their second consecutive victory of the tournament sending a strong reminder to all other competing sides at ICL season-2. Imran Nazir was declared man of the match for his explosive knock of 83, off only 38 balls; including 5 fours and 9 mighty sixes; sealed an eight wicket victory for the Lahore Badshahs in only the 14th over of their innings.

Brief Scores: Mumbai Champs 140/5 in 20 overs (Jadhav57, Taufeeq 41, Mughal 3/28) lost by 8 wickets Lahore Badshahs 141/2 in 13.2 overs( Nazir 83* Inzamam 27* Van Der Wath 1/40)

Lahore rally was held on the bank of River Ravi from under Sagian Bridge to the bridge on Motorway and back to the starting point. It began at 8 am and continued till 5 pm with 60 racers from across the country participating. The racetrack was of 9.5 km. Sindh Minister for Food (Nadir Magsi) won the race.

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The 2^nd season of ICL has not started well for Lahore Badshahs. They have lost their first two games of the season and that too without putting up much fight. They lost their first game to Hyderabad Heroes (the teams which defeated in the last year’s finals as well) and also got hammered by Royal Bengal Tigers in their second game.

Do you guys think they can make a strong comeback or the likes of Saqlain, Inzimam, Rana Naveed, and other are truly past their best?Btw, the squad of Lahore Badshahs this year is:

Qaddafi Stadium Panorama, originally uploaded by MKZee.

Yes, the RBS Twenty20 Cup started yesterday in Lahore. Pakistani national team players are part of all teams. I enjoyed the match between Islamabad and Peshawar last night, with my friends, under the lights with healthy crowd and music.
Best thing is, it’s free and all you need is to bring in your National ID card to get into any game. I advise you to bring your own drinks/snacks to enjoy during the game. It was great to see many people in groups and with families.
Thirteen Regional teams divided into four groups will participate in this tournament. A total of 18 Matches will be played at Gaddafi Stadium Lahore, Bagh-e-Jinnah Lahore and LCCA Ground Lahore. Top team from each group will play the semi finals and the winners of semi finals will fight for the championship in the final. The Champion team of RBS Twenty 20 Cup 2007-2008 will participate in the Champions League in India in December.
Eleven matches of the tournament will be held in the Gaddafi Stadium and will be aired live on Geo Super. The First match at Gaddaffi Stadium will start at 1 pm, Second match will start at 5 pm and the last match will start at 9 pm. Semi Finals on 7th October will start at 5pm & 9 pm while the Final on 8th October will be played from 7pm to 10 pm.

Schedule for today 5th and tomorrow 6th of Oct matches: Click here

FINALS Twenty20 Cup Schedule (Free Entry with National ID)

7-Oct- Tuesday

First Semi Final Gaddafi Stadium Lahore 1700 PM
Second Semi Final Gaddafi Stadium Lahore 2030 PM

8-Oct- Wednesday

FINAL Gaddafi Stadium Lahore 1900 PM……………………..Enjoy !!!

Shoaib Akhtar is part of this Twenty20 Cup in Lahore.

Shahid Afridi, originally uploaded by Max Loxton.

Pakistan and India have been victims of huge number of bomb attacks this year. Yet…….Australia decided today to go ahead with their upcoming tour of India. Our Australian friends have canceled tour of Pakistan twice this year, earlier a test series and later champions trophy.

Is this not double standard on player safety? Or they simply get more money $$$ by playing in India twice this year as visiting team and in India’s lucrative IPL domestic league. Remember there were bombs going off in Rajasthan, where Shane Warne and rest of the Australians did not mind continue playing, earlier this year.

Conclusion: Money is more important for Australians than bombs or safety. All I say as cricket fan: Shame on you Australia.

Soccer is the new cricket.

Chelsea take on Arsenal on Sunday (that’s tomorrow… no wait, today!).

Nothing compared to Manchester United taking on Liverpool, the very same day. Two games, live, back-to-back. By all mean, Grand. Slam. Sunday.

I have been running after a ball for almost two years now. (you may seem to think that I am playing soccer). In Lahore, we have our own stadium with FIFA officially inhabiting our country since I-dont-know-when. You should see the packed crowds at some of the well-arranged privately-organized footy tourneys. There are a lot of soccer fans and players out and about in the city of Lahore and Soccer is coming out in a big way! Go Unitedddddd!!!

(great commentary on the Grand Slam Sunday at The Lahore Tribune)

For those who are unaware of this, ICL (Indian Cricket League) has introduced a new team in its latest ongoing 20-20 tournament. The team is called “Lahore Badshahs”.

Now I understand that many of LMB readers are not from Pakistan, or this region entirely. So for their benefit in particular, let me first explain what ICL is… no wait, let me start with explaining what cricket is.

The Webster’s dictionary (named after the famous linguist, Thomas Dictionary) describes cricket as a form of insect that trots in the outdoors when one wants to have a good night sleep. Off course Webster’s dictionary says the same thing about lollywood. So we can’t take Webster’s dictionary too seriously.

Cricket in fact is a form of sport, run by a governing body called ICC. Now for those who follow the game closely on an hourly basis, you must have noticed an immense conflict these days between two major forces in Cricket…. the batsmen and the bowlers. This is pretty much all one has to know about cricket to get involved. Off course once you do get involved, chances are that you will be fed with so many intricate nitty gritties of the game, that football (another major sport) will seem like a mere prank, against the overwhelmingly complicated game of cricket.

ICL is one such complication in the game these days. So now that you have gained enough raw knowledge to comment on this post, let me get back to the main point; ICL has a new team, called Lahore Badshahs.

Captained by our ex captain Inzy, Lahore Badshahs comprises all those Pakistani players who have left the lucrative (hint hint) careers as “test rejects” to join the wannabe rebel league. And there are plenty of them. In fact, Lahore Badshahs has assembled a cast of quite a few ex-match winners, that it can, in fact, create a major upset in the tournament… such as Pakistani players winning matches… The batting line-up comprises Inzy himself, alongwith Imran Nazir, Imran Farhat, Taufiq Umer, Hamayun Farhat, Navid Latif and Hasan Raza, as well as the wicketkeeper batsman Moin Khan. But it’s actually the bowling line-up that makes the team strong, including fast bowlers such as Mohammad Sami, Shahid Nazeer, Riaz Afridi and Rana Naveed ul Hasan alongwith old (by age) spinners such as Mushtaq Ahmed, Arshad Khan, and (not so old still) Saqlain Mushtaq. All rounder Azhar Mahmood also makes the 16 men squad.

Granted, most of these players are not actually from Lahore. But then Chris Cairns in not exactly from Chandigarh and Marvan Atapattu and Shane Bond are not from Delhi either. So it’s the name of the team that’s important rather than who plays in it.

In the first round of current series, Lahore Badshahs are right now right at the top of the table, having won all 3 matches they played, securing 6 points.

Now what happens if Lahore Badshahs go on to win ICL? How would PCB react to that? Will the ban on these ICL players be lifted if they bring home some glory? and where exactly is Abdur Razzaq? are some of the questions which are yet to be answered. Till we have an answer to these, lets watch some more cricket!!!

Well, this is the least damn thing that one must care about at this moment.

Cricket Australia postpones Pakistan tour

They are scared and are rightly so. I’m scared for my city’s happiness too! :(