Former Pakistani opener Imran Farhat hit a blazing half-century to lead Lahore Badshahs to a 38-run win over local favourites Chandigarh Lions in an ICL Twenty20 match in Panchkula on Sunday night.
Riding on Imran's quickfire 94, studded with eight sixes, Lahore Badshahs posted a challenging total of 187 and then restricted Lions to 149 for seven in their quota of 20 overs.
It was a disastrous start for the Lions while chasing the massive total, as openers Matthew Elliot and Lou Vincent went without scoring, both falling to all-rounder Azhar Mehmood, who bagged three wickets.
Middle-order batsman Dinesh Mongia (35) and skipper Hall (32) tried to do the repair work but that was not enough to save their team from defeat.
Manish Sharma (20) and TP Singh (23) were the other notable contributors for Lions.
Earlier Imran's knock came off just 54 balls with the help of eight sixes, highest in an innings in the tournament so far, and four boundaries before a 7,000 capacity Sunday crowd at the Tau Devi Lal stadium.
Imran's elder brother Humayun also contributed with his 48-run knock of 39 balls.
Farhat brothers plundered over 100 runs in the final ten overs to set a massive target for the opponents, led by South African Andrew Hall.
Hall and Daryl Tuffey shared six wickets to fall but they failed to put brakes on the run flow, due to poor ground fielding by the Lions.
Badshahs now lead the points table with six points after three successive wins in the tournament.
