Faislabad Falcons comprised of first-class cricketers from around the world namely: Shaheer Hassan, Ashhar Mehdi, Fahad Babar, ALI SAMAD, Junaid Siddiqui, RUMMAN RAEES, Talha Mohsin, Amin Gilani, NAJAM BAKHSHI, Phani Teja, Ali Faruqui, Mohammad Chowdhury. Their performance at the 11th US Open Cricket was entertaining for the spectators; below is a summary of their overall performance at the tournament.
In their first match Faislabad Falcons faced Ohio Falcons. Winning the toss first, Faislabad chose to field first. In ten overs, Ohio Falcons were restricted to 72 runs with the loss of 6 wickets. The target of 73 runs did not seem troublesome for the Faislabad Falcons as they chased it in 8.5 overs. For Ohio Falcons, Sachin Veeraswamy, Sudhanshu Bajpai and Bilal Qureshi managed doubled figures while batting whereas for Faislabad Falcons, Shaheer Hassan (the opener) played an instrumental role and started the chase in a dominant fashion, scoring 38 runs off 23 balls. Ashhar Mehdi added 10 off 7 and Fahad Babar contributed 25 runs off 23 deliveries.
For Faisalabad Falcons, the economy rate fluctuated from 5.50 to 12.00 whereas for Ohio Falcons, it ranged from 6.00 minimum to maximum 12.00.
In the second match, Faislabad Falcons played Atlanta Griffin; winning the toss, Atlanta chose to bat first. In ten overs, Atlanta Griffin managed 90 runs with the loss of 3 wickets. Akshaya Persaud played the main role with the bat as he scored 46 runs off 33 balls with 3 big sixes and one four. He was supported by Gavin Wallace (12 off 12) and Kyle Phillips (14 off 12). For Faislabad Falcons the bowling line up proved to be pricey as the maximum economy rate ended up being 16.00 and minimum was 4.00.
While chasing, Faislabad openers: Shaheer and Ashhar added 10 and 19 off 16 and 14. Ali Samad played a responsible innings as he scored 23 off 13 as well as Ruman Raees scored 22 off just 7. The economy rate for Atlanta Griffin ranged from 4.00 to 14.00. Faislabad won the game by 6 wickets.
In the fourth match, Cavalier Kings won the toss and chose to field first. Faislabad Falcons set up a target of 103 runs with the loss of 7 wickets in 10 overs. The target of 104 runs turned out to be too much to handle for Cavalier Kings as they stumbled to 77 with the loss of 8 wickets in 10 overs. For Faislabad, Ahmad Syed was the top scorer in the batting innings as he contributed 31 runs off 14 deliveries. The other two main contributors were Fahad Babar (12 off 15) and Najam Bakhshi (15 off 13). From Cavalier Kings’ bowling line up, Salil Kumar Yadav clinched 4 wickets in 2 overs with an economy rate of 5.50. He also scored 15 runs for his side off 23 deliveries and the only other batsman to contribute majorly in the chase for Cavalier Kings was Sahaj Patel who managed 15 runs off 13 deliveries. For Faislabad, Aali Faruqui took 4 wickets 2 overs at an economy rate of 6.50. Whereas, Junaid Siddiqui and Moin Babar both took 2 wickets each and Faislabad Falcons won the game by 26 runs.
In the crucial Quarterfinal match against Houston Stars, Faislabad Falcons could not manage to perform at their best as Houston Stars won the game by 5 wickets. Winning the toss first, Houston Stars chose to field first and restricted Faislabad to just 110 in 15 overs and clinched 8 wickets. For the Falcons, Ashhar scored 18 off 16, Shaheer scored 15 off 17 and Ali managed 20 off 13. Houston Stars’ bowlers glimmered with their bowling as all the main bowlers: Sohail Khan, Umar Gul, Hammad Azam, M Farrukh clinced a wicket and two. In reply, Houston Stars took away the game from Faislabad by putting up a fine display of aggressive batting. The opener Adnan Haroon scored a dominant 32 off 20 deliveries, M Farrukh added 24 off just 21 and Hammad Azam scored 25 runs off 12 deliveries.
