RAWALPINDI – September 12, 2015: Karachi Blues, Multan, Abbottabad, Islamabad and Sialkot fought their way to win in the Cool & Cool Present Haier Mobil T20 Cup 2015 on Saturday.
The cup being played in the twin cities of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, had its ups and downs in which Karachi Blues, Abbottabad and Islamabad did not face much resistance but Multan was stretched to limits by Karachi Whites for the win and Rawalpindi fought till the final ball against Sialkot but in vain.
To start the day, Khurram Manzoor steered Karachi Blues to a comprehensive seven wickets victory over Lahore Whites at Diamond Ground, Islamabad.
Asked to bat, Lahore was allowed to get 179 runs which were enough to fight for but in the process they lost seven wickets. Karachi in their chase achieved 182 for the loss of three wickets with 2.2 overs to spare.
Khurrum was immaculate enough for his man of the match award with his rapid-fire 44 balls 81 that paved the way for Karachi’s win. His briskness in batting can be gauged from the fact that he punched 16 boundaries to show his prowess. Shahzaib Hasan with his perfect 45, rain-bowed with four boundaries and three sixes in which he face 24 balls played a supportive role while Asad Shafiq had an unbeaten 36 in 24 balls that was studded with 4x4s. Azhar Ali and Aizaz Cheema had success with the ball for one wicket each.
Earlier, the star-studded Lahore line up saw Umer Akmal get 52 runs in 36 balls. His was the first half century of the tournament that came off the help of four sixes and two fours. Ahmed Shahzad made his presence felt with brisk 40 in 16 balls and in the process he hit six fours and two sixes. Saad Nasim and Azhat Ali added useful 35 and 20 runs in the score. Ruman Raees was the pick of bowlers with three wickets. On the other hand Shahid Afridi and Abdul Ameer dented Lahore pride with two wickets each and with this loss Lahore was out of contention.
At another venue, Multan after a thrilling match beat Karachi Whites by three runs to qualify for the semi-finals.
Playing at the Pindi Stadium, Rawalpindi, Multan won the toss and elected to bat first, skipper Kamran Akmal’s brilliant hundred, posted a sizable total of 185 for the loss of 4 wickets.
Karachi Whites, in reply, took a confident start but failed to convert it into a match-winning partnership, and after a thrilling fight, they fell short of three runs of the given target. Sheharyar Ghani’s 64 of 38 balls was the top score from Karachi.
Multan skipper Kamran Akmal was awarded man of the match for his handy hundred. He cracked 105 in 57 balls. In his century he timed a dozen fours and four mighty sixes. Naveed Yasin contributed 32 runs that came with the help of a four and two sixes. He faced 29 balls. Sohaib Maqsood added 26 runs that came off 20 balls and was studded with three fluent fours and a six. Saud Shakeel, Tariq Haroon, Tabish Khan and Mir Hamza shared one wicket each.
Karachi in reply could manage 182 for the loss of four wickets. Shaharyar Ghani’s 64 not out, who faced 38 balls, came with the help of seven boundaries and two sixes. Rameez Raja made fighting 46 in 26 balls and to get his score rolling he hit five fours and three sixes. Faisal Iqbal’s 30 were a valuable addition in the score but was not enough to save the match. In his 24 balls innings he hit two fours and a six. Ahsan Ali made 23 for Karachi. Rahat Ali and Zulfiqar Babar applied breaks on Karachi score with two and one wicket respectively.
Abbottabad while playing at Diamond Ground, Islamabad, found it easy sailing against Peshawar, sneaking to a six wickets win. Fakhar Zaman smashed an unbeaten century to his team’s 198 in their chase of massive 195 runs scored by Peshawar. Abbottabad took 19.3 overs to complete the score losing four wickets.
Fakhar took 62 balls to reach his 100 runs and while reaching his century he also got 44 runs through boundaries and also hit three sixes. Sohail Akhtar 30, and Yasir Hameed 29 were very supportive in Abbottabad’s win.
Sohail faced 15 balls to hit two boundaries and the same number of sixes, while Yasir timed six fours in 21 balls he faced. Imran Khan Jr, Adil Amin, Imran Khan Sr. and Zohaib Ahmed shipped in with one wicket each.
The actual score developer from Peshawar was Iftikhar Ahmed, who remained not out at 90 runs. In his 55 balls stay at the crease he pulled 36 runs off sixes and also had 16 runs through fours. Adil Amin with his 33 runs which was a mixture of three fours and two sixes held the other end for a brief period while M Rizwan scored 30 runs. Junaid Khan had two wickets while Kamran Ghulam and Sohail Akhtar shared one wicket apiece.
In the fourth match of the day, Islamabad had a comfortable victory of eight wickets over Faisalabad at Pindi Stadium.
In reply to Faisalabad’s 158 for eight, Islamabad reached 161 runs for the loss of two wickets with two overs to spare. The top order of Islamabad led by Afaq Raheem overhauled the score. Shan Masood and Afaq started the innings for Islamabad and the two were separated at the total score of 51 in the seventh over. It was Shan who after getting 30 runs in 22 balls marched back to the pavilion. Then Afaq and Babar Azam surpassed majority of the score leaving Afaq and Imad Wasim to complete the remaining deficit. Afaq made 70 not out in 49 balls, hitting 11 fours, while Babar before leaving the crease made 38 runs and the unbeaten Imad scored 12 runs. Interestingly, none of the Islamabad batsmen hit a six.
Earlier, Faisalabad struggled to get to its total as Raheel Ameer 41, Khurrum Shehzad 47 and Misbah-ul-Haq 31 were the prominent players with the bat. Little contribution also came from Shahid Khan 15 and Faheen Ashfaq 13 not out. Shahid Azam and Munir-ur-Rehman with two wickets each while Hamza Nadeem, Zafar Gohar and Afaq with one wicket each dented Faisalabad's honour. Afaq was later named man of the match.
In the final match of the day, Sialkot dumped Rawalpindi by 18 runs to reach the semi-finals. Sialkot moved to 176 for four after having a slow start and later let Rawalpindi get to 157 for seven in 20 overs.
Nauman Anwar and Mukhtar Ahmed opened the Sialkot innings to be parted away at 25 when Nauman was run out. Haris Sohail joined Mukhtar and they took the score to 63. In this partnership Haris played the lead role while Mukhtar could muster 19 runs. Haris and captain Shoaib Malik started off from the previous partnership and built the score to 139. Haris after getting his 50 was also run out. But Malik kept the work going at the other end and later, was supported by Adeel Malik. Shoaib left Adeel to continue the run feast with Bilal Asif. Shoaib in his effort scored 48 runs. Yasir Arfat and Mohammad Asghar shared one wicket each.
In their chase, Rawalpindi kept losing its wickets at frequent interval. Only, Nasir Jamshed came among the runs from the upper order making 28 runs. And later in the middle order Umer Amin smacked 39 runs to keep hopes alive for Rawalpindi. Later Yasin Murtaza scored 24. Sohail Tanvir brought the crowd to its toes with some big hits. He smashed three sixes and the same number of fours in his 37 runs innings but the asking average was too big for him alone to achieve. In the final over, Rawalpindi required 33 runs and they could get 14 runs only to lose the match by 18 runs and also the wicket of Tanvir. He made 37 runs in 21 balls. Bilal Asif, Bilawal Bhatti and Hasan Ali shared two wickets each to restrict Rawalpindi batting.
Scorecards:
