Lahore celebrates Pakistan's T20 World Cup crown - Image Source: BBC News

Amid roars of ‘Pakistan Zindabad!’ and ‘Boom Boom Afridi!’ at the historic grounds of Lord’s, Shahid Afridi’s sensible yet electrifying batting took Pakistan Cricket to new heights.

People in Lahore and throughout Pakistan are celebrating on the streets, in their homes and at dozens of public screenings. Sweets, crackers, fireworks, and shouts of Boom Boom Afridi heard everywhere.

So much for a nation sunk in depression and conflict for so long; we badly needed this victory… :)

Pakistan Zindabad!

After winning the toss, Lahore Lions decided to bat first at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium last night. Imran Farhat was the highest scoring batsman for the Lions who sent to the pavilion after scoring 47 runs. Twenty whole overs and a loss of eight wickets landed the Lions with a total of 150 runs; a target that was achieved rather easily by their rivals.

Opening Stallion, Imran Nazir was the star of his team who scored 57 runs; highest in the match.

Sialkot Stallions won the game with 4 wickets and 5 balls remaining.

See complete match summary here.

We congratulate the Stallions on their fantastic win and hope they get a place at the 2009 Champions League T20 tournament to be played in India this year. So far, no Pakistani team has been included in the multi-million dollar event on a presumption that Pakistan Cricket has imposed travel restrictions on its players – a claim that PCB denies.

Exclusion of any Pakistani team from the event will result in further isolation of Pakistan Cricket which has been suffering badly due to the security situation back home.

Six of the men guarding Sri Lankan Team’s convoy lost their lives while battling about twelve very heavily armed militants right in the heart of Lahore in broad daylight.

People paying their respects at the Memorial

Lahorites are proudly commemorating the bravery of these men who sacrificed their lives to save what is left of this country’s international image. It was due to the cover provided by deterrence of these men lasting 25 minutes against the terrorists that the bus carrying the Sri Lankans was able to escape to safety of the Qadaffi Stadium. Would they have not fought bravely enough, the whole Sri Lankan team might have been taken hostage or in a worse scenario; killed!

A tribute!

As you do a roundabout at Liberty, you can see stacks of flowers and bouquets coupled with hand written charts, banners, posters and candles adorning the small memorial erected in the grounds. The most prominent feature of the memorial is the official banners with pictures of the martyrs on them.

Martyred Policemen of the Punjab Elite Force

Liberty Memorial for Heroes of 3/3

We owe a lot to the ‘Shuhada of 3/3′ namely:

- Zafar Iqbal, Constable Elite Force
- Faisal Rasheed Butt, Head Constable Elite Force
- Mudassar Nadeem, Constable Elite Force
- Muhammad Sultan, Constable/Driver Elite Force
- Tipu Farid, Constable Mujahid Squad
- Tanveer Iqbal, Traffic Warden

We pray that may God grant peace to their loved ones and bless their souls by honoring them with the highest ranks in heaven. Amen!

More Pictures: Liberty Memorial at Flickr

A news report (in Urdu) with video footage from surveillance cameras can be found HERE.

You can follow twitter reports and opinions on #lahore as more facts (and fiction) unfold HERE.

Traffic is being diverted from the Gulberg area to other roads, and the Sri Lankan team is being transported back home immediately.

Stay safe fellow Lahoris.

Lahore Badshahs defeat Hyderabad Heroes by 4 wickets

Imran Farhat declared man of the match

Detailed Scores

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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Earlier in the evening Inzamam, won the toss & choose to field first. The Chennai’s formidable opening combination of Vignesh & Harvey was off to a busy start till the quick Sami castled the dangerous Vignesh for 6 in the 3rd over. Harvey was taking over from his brilliant innings of the previous night, playing some breathtaking strokes all across the park. At the end of the5th over Chennai Superstars were placed at 49/1.

Inzamam brought on his inform bowler Rana Naved in the 6th over who struck immediately with the big wicket of Harvey, out for well made 29 off 21 balls; including 5 hits to the boundary. Arnold took over the batting mantel & in company of Badani put on a 33 run partnership for the third wicket, till the wily Saqlain bamboozled him with his new mystery ball “ The Jalebi”, for the second time in two consecutive days. The half way mark of their innings had the Chennai side placed at 86/3.

The crucial middle overs had the backbone of the Chennai batting Badani & Sathish battling it out in the middle. Both batsmen were looking in great touch countering the formidable Lahore bowling to take the score to 133/3 at the 15th over mark. Both batsmen brought about the fifty partnership off only 34 balls in the 16th over, till Badani was scalped by Saqlain in the same over for a well made 37 runs.

A lot depended on the prodigal Sathish who was playing another fighting innings for the second consecutive day; displaying his humongous talent against one of the craftiest bowling machinery of the world. Nazir however had other ideas scalping the talented Chennai lad in the 18th over. Sathish’s cameo was worth 37 runs off only 28 balls, laced with five fours. Chennai finally folded their innings on a healthy 165/7 in their allotted 20 overs. For the Lahore side Naved with 3/30 & Saqlain with 2/26 emerged as the most successful bowlers.

The Chennai side was looking determined to defend their average total. Jesuraj struck early packing back the dangerous Imran Nazir in the 2nd over to leave the Lahore side at 15/1. Nazir’s wicket however had no effect on the batting approach of the mighty Lahore Badshahs, with Rana Naved & Farhat racing off to 43/1 at the end of 4 overs. Naved got out to a soft dismissal at in the 5th over to leave the Lahore score card reading 47/2.

Farhat took over the batting mantel racing off to 40 off only 20 balls in only the 7th over of the game. Just when it seemed that Farhat was running away with the match, Sathish struck his second blow of the match with the wicket of Farhat, out for a well made 46 off only 24 balls; including 5 fours and 3 mighty sixes. The 10 over mark had the game fascinatingly poised at the Lahore score of 85/3 needing another 81 runs off 60 balls & their most experienced batsmen Mohammad Yousuf & Inzamam holding fort in the center.

The great Inzamam was just proving his batting prowess, playing a clinical knock to take the score to 130 /3 putting the Lahore Badshahs in the front at the end of the 15th over in company of Mohammad Yousuf. Inzamam brought his second ICL fifty in the 17th over coming off only 28 balls; laced with 6 fours and 2 sixes. In the end a clinical 87 run partnership for the forth wicket, powered by a 62 run knock from the Lahore skipper Inzamam saw the Lahore Badshahs romp home to a 6 wicket victory in the 19th over.

Brief Scores: Chennai Superstars165/7 in 20 overs (Sathish 37, Badani 37, Rana Naved 3/30) lost by 6 wickets to Lahore Badshahs 168/4 in 18.5 overs (Inzamam 62, Farhat 46, and Sathish 2/34)

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)

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.

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!!!