RAWALPINDI - September 3, 2015: Karachi Blues, Bahawalpur and Quetta had the last laugh at the end of day three on Thursday in the Cool & Cool Present Haier Q8 T20 Cup 2015 being played at Pindi Stadium.
Karachi Blues prevailed over Dera Murad Jamali, Bahawalpur tamed FATA and Quetta thrashed AJK in the qualifying round for the Cool & Cool Present Haier Mobile T20 Cup 2015-16, which will start from September 8.
Khalid Latif plotted Karachi Blues comprehensive 53 runs victory over Dera Murad Jamali. Khalid with his half century and two partnerships supported his team to 172 runs for five. Khalid scored 51 runs in 46 balls and also timed six fours and shared 72 runs for the second wicket with Shahzaib Hasan (32) and 36 runs for the third wicket with Asad Shafiq (35).
Shahzaib hit three sixes and a four while facing 23 balls and Asad punctuated five boundaries in 25 balls he faced.
Later Sarfraz Ahmed added useful 16 runs to the total alongside nine came off Muhammad Sami’s bat as both the players remained not out.
Imran Khan remained the most successful bowler for DMJ taking two wickets while Mohammad Asim, Ghulam Hussain and Nasir Khan shared one wicket each.
DMJ in its efforts could only muster 119 runs losing nine wickets, while playing with just an average of five runs an over. Najeebullah and Nasir Khan were prominent with the bat for DMJ scoring 35 and 32 runs respectively with little contributions coming from Taimur Ali (21) and Asif Ali (12). Faraz Ahmed and Shahzaib Ahmed with two wickets each and M Sami, Anwar Ali, Fawad Alam and Asad getting one wicket apiece dented DMJ’s progress.
In the second match, Bahawalpur defeated FATA by 10 runs to make its presence felt among the teams of repute. Bahawalpur after getting 156 runs on the board contained FATAL at 146 sending all their batsmen packing in 19.1 overs.
Zahir Saddiqui and Faisal Mubashir applied breaks on FATA’s run flow after a brave effort from their middle order batsmen Rahimbaz Khan and Rehan Afridi. Zahir blew FATA's plan by taking its openers wickets for 2 for 22 and then Mubashir checked the middle order when Rahimbaz and Rehan were playing fearlessly.
Rahimbaz 33 and Rehan 36 kept Bahawalpur on its toes and once they were back in the pavilion, no one from FATA's side showed guts and will for a win. Asif Afridi (11), Asad Afridi (18) and M Sarwar (21) displayed some spiritless effort. As Saddiqui and Faisal had three wickets each, Kamran Hussain and M Imran got one wicket each.
Faisal Mubashir was the star in Bahawalpur’s 156 runs innings that came off for the loss of eight wickets. Despite frequent jolts in Bahawalpur batting lineup unleashed by FATA bowlers, Faisal stood at the crease as an unbreakable wall. In his more than one hour stay at the wicket he piled up 79 runs while facing 52 balls. In between his guiles, he saw seven of his colleagues desert him but he stood firm in the middle to also hit nine boundaries and a six. Bahawalpur opener Shahan Akram (21), Kamran Hussain (21) and Aqib Javed (12) were the other prominent scorers. Khushdil Shah and Mohammad Sarwar snared two wickets each while Rahimbaz Khan, Mohammad Raza, Asif Afridi and Shorab Khan had one wicket each.
Quetta sailed to four wickets win over AJK in the final match of the day. Quetta in fact did not let AJK settle despite their fighting 144 for 6. Quetta, however, maintained aggression to score 147 runs for six wickets with full five overs to spare.
Quetta’s one down batsman Mohibullah played a lead role in his team’s win when their openers Bismillah Khan (14) and Zubair Khan were back in the pavilion at 23 for two. Mohib and Arun Lal took the score to 48 before the latter was bowled by Irfan Talib. Mohib then partnered with Rameez Raja (18) to take the score to 113.
At that point in time hope developed in AJK ranks when Mohib, who got 54 runs in 30 balls with four fours and four sixes, was taken by Talib. But fate was not in favour of AJK as Jalat Khan (10) and Sher Hasan (11) overhauled the score. Saad Altaf and Talib bowled their hearts out for two wickets each while Naqash Basharat had one in a losing cause.
After having developed 35 runs for the first wicket, AJK faced a brief collapse but Irfan Talib provided stability coming at number six position. Beginning the AJK innings, Usman Maroof and Raja Naeem had a cautious start. When Usman reached 15 and later when Raja was at 19, were both clean bowled by Quetta pacer Sher Hasan. Then Naveed Malik (20) found a sensible partner in Talib to develop the score from 49 for three to 105 for five. Naveed was caught and bowled by Muhammad Irfan, who then trapped Hasan Raza leg before wicket.
Talib who made 33 kept the runs flow going standing with M Fahad (13) and they remained not out till the end of the innings. Mohammad Adil, Sher Hassan and Muhammad Irfan chipped in with two wickets each.
Scorecards
