ICL's second season was indeed bigger & better

"Cricket hai meri life," seems to be Imran Nazir's mantra. The dashing opener provided the perfect finishing touch to an exhilarating month's Twenty20 action as the curtains came down on the Indian Cricket League's 20s Indian Championship at the Sardar Vallabhai Patel stadium in Ahmedabad on Sunday night.

Lahore Badshahs, after being denied the title in the last tournament, proved that they were a cut above the rest with a near flawless display which helped them score a resounding eight-wicket victory over the clueless Hyderabad Heroes in the third of the best-of-three finals.

It was high voltage stuff from the right-handed, who remained unbeaten on 111 off only 44 balls with seven fours and 11 mighty sixes.

This was incidentally the second century of the ICL with the first one too coming in this tournament Alok Kapali hammering an exact 100 on October 15 against Hyderabad Heroes at Hyderabad.

If Kapali's knock was a path-breathing one, then Nazir's swashbuckling century was made of fairy-tale stuff. It was the most brutal assault that one got to see in Twenty20 cricket with the nearest one to it being Yuvraj Singh's six-sixes in an over in the Twenty20 World Championship last year.

Nazir ended up as the leading scorer in the tournament with 392 runs to his credit. He also won $10,000 for smashing the longest six which cleared 140 meters.

As promised by the organizers, ICL's first tournament of Season II turned out to be bigger and better than the previous ones last season. And Nazir epitomized the spirit of the tournament. It was pure entertainment for the spectators, who lapped up every bit of the action.

The Heroes, on the other hand, looked ragged in the finals. However, the silver lining for them was the emergence of Stuart Binny as the most promising Indian player. The Karnataka lad took home the Kapil Dev Award.

The other semi-finalists, Royal Bengal Tigers started off with a bang but lost steam towards the end of the league phase. The Timesjobs.com Chennai Superstars too promised much but failed to live up to it.

The biggest disappointment was Magicbricks.com Mumbai Champs, who notched up just one win in nine matches. What was pathetic was the effort put in by the players on the field. They seemed to lack the will to win.

Though Badshahs won the trophy, it was the Dhaka Warriors who stole the hearts. Playing their first tournament, the Warriors showed that they had the talent to match the best in the business. With a bit of luck, they could have been one of the semi-finalists. But they will be wiser by the experience.

source:https://cricket.timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/3725007.cms

yippyyyy!!! Lahore badshah won😳👏... all thanks to imran nazir. i hope the board will put him back into the team..what do u guys think?