3:10 AM IST, 2:40 AM Local Time: Lahore Blues become the 4th side after Abbotabad, Multan and Peshawar to seal the last semi-final in the National T20 Cup after defeating Sialkot Region by 33 runs.
Sialkot captain Shoaib Malik won the toss and elected to field. Umar Siddique hit 65 off 44 balls to take Blues to 184. Hasan Ali picked up 4/42 to help restrict the opposition to the score.
Sialkot lost the dashing opener Mohammad Huraira in the first over for a duck. The early breakthrough triggered an early collapse as the team slid down to 54/4. Mirza Tahir Baig continued to bat through the middle overs and hit 77 off 47 balls before being run out in the 18th over.
Tahir added 47 for the 5th wicket with captain Shoaib Malik (20 off 16) and 36 with Hasan Ali (25 off 10) for the 7th wicket but the rest of the batting order didn't help the team's cause.
Nisar Ahmed (2/27), Hussain Talat (2/25), Mohammad Rizwan JNR (2/35) and Mohammad Irfan (2/41) picked up a couple of wickets each and helped bundle Sialkot in the 19th over.