MULTAN: As the national T20 cricket festivity moves to the Multan Stadium on Monday, Karachi Blues escaped late onslaught from Fata’s Mohammad Imran to win by 17 runs.
In the second match, the day in phase two of Cool and Cool Present Jazz National T20 Cup, Karachi Blues after batting first scored 151 runs for seven wickets and later Fata despite jittery proceedings saw Imran score 34 runs in 20 balls and along with Umar Saddiq 10 he almost developed an innings left Karachi Blues wondering. But thanks to Bilawal Bhatti and Saeed Ajmal who contained him in limits to get a win for their team.
Karachi Blues too had a troubled start when they lost one of its openers Khurrum Manzoor, but Shahzaib Hasan developed a face-saving innings of 51 runs. His 48 balls stay at the crease saw him hit five boundaries and a six.
Later contributions from the latter batsmen lifted the total to a position from where Karachi bowlers could fight to defend it. Mohammad Waqas, Fazal Subhan, Fawad Alam, Mohammad Sami and Saifullah Bangash scored 10, 19, 25, 22 and 11 runs respectively.
Fata’s Aamer Yamin with three wickets, Bilal Asif with two, Asif Ali and Mohammad Imran with one each did their best to limit Karachi score. But Fata batsmen failed to credit on their bowlers efforts, rather it was the Karachi bowlers who kept Fata batsmen quiet.
Imran was the highest scorer from Fata while Fawad Khan 11, Yasir Hameed 29, Bilal Asif 30, Kushdil Shah 16 were the batsmen who came among runs. But their efforts were not proficient enough to win the match.
Bilawal and Ajmal took two wickets while Sami, Rumman Raees and Mohammad Asghar had one apiece.
