RAWALPINDI - September 4, 2015: Lahore Blues, Karachi Blues, Bahawalpur and Quetta completed the semi-finals line up of the Cool & Cool Present Haier Q8 T20 Cup 2015 here at the Pindi Stadium on Friday.
Thus with the completion of the semi-finalists, the four teams were also decided which will play in the 12-team Cool & Cool Present Haier Mobile T20 Cup 2015-16, starting from September 8 at Islamabad. Meanwhile, both the semi-finals of the cup will be played on Saturday at the same venue. The first semi-final between Lahore Blues and Bahawalpur will start at 4:00 pm, while second semi-final will be played between Karachi Blues and Quetta at 8:00 pm.
On day four of the event, Karachi Blues survived a scare to manage its path to the semi-final after having a 3-run win over Bahawalpur.
Opted to field, Bahawalpur saw Karachi post a score of authority (168 for 3) when their batsmen Shahzaib Hasan and Fawad Alam scored brilliant half centuries. But in their turn, Bahawalpur almost stunned Karachi by reaching 165 runs for five.
Muhammad Yasir opened Bahawalpur innings with Mohammad Imtiaz and the later kept the runs flowing going when his partner remained silent. At 19 and his personal 17, Imtiaz fell to Karachi’s Abdul Ameer. From there on Yasir took the initiative and played to the demand of time scoring 81 runs in 53 balls. His 50 runs came off boundaries in which there were 11 fours and a six. He also shared 87 runs for the second wicket with Shahan Akram. Shahan was also bowled by Ameer for 21 but Yasir kept his good work with the bat and remained firm till Rumman Raees made him give the catch to Asad Shafiq.
From among the later coming batsmen, only Kamran Hussain and Moinuddin could reach double figures when they made 20 and 11 runs respectively. Kamran who remained till the end with Mohammad Zahir Saddiqui missed the opportunity of win by a brim for his team. They reached 150 runs by the 19th over but required 19 runs, which were too much for Kamran and Moin to achieve in the final over, still they scored 15 runs to surprise Karachi. Ameer took three wickets while Rumman had two.
Earlier, Shahzaib and Fawad reached their half centuries with big hits. Shazaib in his 35-ball 63 timed six fours and three sixes to get man of the match award while Fawad‘s 55 not out came off 43 balls, in which he hit four fours and one six. Khalid Latif’s 10 and Asad Shafiq’s 25 not out provided the total stability. Zahir got two wickets while Moin had one.
In the second match of the day, FATA was too good for Dera Murad Jamali in their six wickets win with 2.4 overs to spare.
Dera Murad Jamali elected to bat but could not play to the expectations and crumbled at 111 in 19.2 overs. FATA then overhauled the score losing four wickets in 17.3 overs.
Apart from Abid Ali, Shahbaz Ali and Nasir Khan were the only players who broke into double digit, eight of the DM Jamali batsmen were bowled out for 47 runs. Abid started off the innings scoring 25 runs, Sarfraz added 12 runs and Nasir managed 23 runs. Interestingly the third highest score in the innings were 13 that came off extras. Mohammad Sarwar and Sohrab Khan with two wickets each and Zeeshan Khan, Asif Afridi and Khushdil Shah with one wicket each kept the DM Jamali batsmen in limits.
In reply, FATA with two quick losses for 20 came back in the game through Khushdil and Asad Afridi. They together gathered 77 runs for the fourth wicket. Asad who was playing with full aggression was the first to go back to the dressing room scoring 49 runs in 35 balls with four sixes and two fours. He was run out by Nasir while Khushdil went for nearly a run a ball innings making 36 with two boundaries and a six. They, however, set the path for victory which was later surpassed by Mohammad Naeem Senior and Rehan Afridi. Mohammad Asim and Shabbir Ali had success with the ball taking two and one wicket in order.
Imam-ul-Haq with his half century and three healthy partnerships steered Lahore Blues to five wickets win against Larkana in the final match of day four. Lahore which was chasing 146 for five of Larkana, achieved 150 runs in 19.3 overs.
Imam first provided 42 runs opening wicket stand with Abid Ali (24) and later match winning 62 runs partnership with Fahad-ul-Haq (29). Afterwards he and Mohammad Waheed added 26 runs for the fourth wicket. Fahad had 29 runs onboard. Waheed (16), and the two not out batsmen Mohammad Saeed and Adnan Akmal completed the score after Imam had reached 67 in 53 balls and was run out by Ali Asghar.
Asghar on his part also took two wickets while Afraz Khoso and Zahid Mahmood had one apiece.
Earlier, top three Larkana batsmen tested the patience of Lahore bowlers. Bilal Irshad, Zafar Ali and Asif Babar made the Lahore bowlers toil for 43, 30 and 41 runs respectively. Bilal’s innings was studded with two fours and a six, as was of Zafar while Asif sent the ball across and over the boundary thrice for fours and sixes each. Mohammad Urs and Ayaz Jamali provided useful runs in the total. Bilawall, Ataullah, Qaiser Ashraf, Mohammad Waheed and Salman Agha shared one wicket apiece.
Quetta was the first team to qualify for the semi-final before Lahore, Karachi and Bahawalpur fourth on their way to the last four.
Scorecards
