The Lahore Lions fought and fought hard against the Perth Scorchers but couldn’t prevent the Chennai Super to cruise into the semifinals of the Champions League T20 in Bangalore. Chennai joined Kings XI Punjab, Kolkata Knight Riders and Hobart Hurricanes in the last-four of the tournament on Tuesday.
Lahore needed to register a big win over the Scorchers but they only managed to set an under-par 125 runs target for the Australian team. They, however, made a match out of it and put the Scorchers under real pressure but a captain’s knock from Mitchell Marsh robbed them a win and a place in the semis.
The Scorchers defeated the Lions by three wickets thanks to an unbeaten fifty from Marsh and a cameo from Brad Hogg at the end. Marsh and Hogg stitched an unbeaten 68 runs partnership for the eighth wicket and the former finished the innings with a might six with one over to spare.
It was not at all an easy win for the Scorchers as at one point they were reeling at 40 for six. The Aussies looked clueless against the fine bowlers and moreover from the pressure exerted by Mohammad Hafeez by setting an attacking field. The Lions ripped through Perth’s batting order but Marsh (63 not out) and Hogg (23 not out) proved to be too good for them.
“We were short on the board,” Hafeez said. “We played bad shots, but I feel our spinners brought us back in. Mitchell Marsh played his shots and turned it their way. We didn’t play good shots at the top, which put pressure on the boys, but Umar Akmal and Nasim had an exceptional tournament.”
“There was dew towards the end, which made it difficult, but we had the chances and we believe Mitch Marsh made all the difference,” he added. “We are proud of what we have achieved here.”
As Hafeez said, the Lions were infact short on the board as they never really get going and succumbed to a pressure of qualifying. There were ghosts on the pitch neither the bowlers were bowling at a rate of knots, seeing the batting from Marsh and Hogg, but the Lions crumbled like a cookie and ended up 50-60 runs short, to make a realistic chance of qualifying from the tie.
Joel Paris was the wrecker-in-chief for the Scorchers and torn apart the star-studded top-order of the Lions. He finished with three wickets, while Marsh took two and Hogg chipped in with one wicket. Saad Nasim held the innings together and made an unbeaten fifty, but his effort went in vain as he got no support from the other end.
“It certainly was tight,” Marsh said. “Certainly not the start we would have wanted. Those totals are not always easy, and they have an experienced bowling line-up. Joel has announced himself, and he has a massive future.”
