Will Heroes rise to the occasion?

How good is this Lahore Badshahs team? Some pundits believe they could give the current Pakistan team a run for its money.

Opener Imran Farhat and Imran Nazir are the cleanest hitters in the game, while Mohammad Yusuf and Mohammad Sami would walk into the Pakistan team. For a big man, Inzamam-ul Haq is still light on his feet and Azhar Mahmood can turn a match on its head even today.

After their four-wicket win over Hyderabad Heroes in the first final of the Indian Cricket League’s 20s tournament the Badshahs have reason to believe that they can win the second final too. The Heroes are no push-overs either and ran the Badshahs close on Friday night. On the eve of the second final both skippers were bullish about their chances.

Chris Harris believes his team will be able to play without any pressure. “We have nothing to lose. From here on we have no pressure and will have to go all out for a win,” Harris said. The Badshahs don’t want to work on Sunday. They want to finish off their business on Saturday evening it self.

“After winning the first game the confidence level among the boys is high. No team would want to take a best-of-three final into the third game,” Inzamam said.

The former Pakistan skipper spoke of the brand of aggressive cricket his team has been playing. “We want to take on the opposition from the word go. Even when the required rate was six-plus we began the chase hoping to finish the game early,” Inzamam said.
Adopting an out-and-out aggressive approach can also backfire. The Heroes almost got back into the game on Friday before the Badshahs eased ahead.