MULTAN: Islamabad region Wednesday managed its first win of the ongoing Cool and Cool Presents Jazz National T20 Cup when they defeated Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) team by seven wickets here at Multan Stadium.
Restricted to 139 for four, Fata later failed to stop Islamabad reach 140 for three wickets in 19 overs, with six balls to spare.
Fata struggled throughout its batting display and later in its turn Islamabad had Sami Aslam play the lead role in their team’s win with his unbeaten 61 runs innings.
Sami and Afaq Rehman started Islamabad’s chase with caution and the two separated when the score reached 50 runs. Afaq could make 26 but that as enough to boost Islamabad’s campaign for win.
Later small contributions from Imamul Haq12, Adil Amin 19 and Ali Sarfraz’s eight while 14 from extras, got Islamabad its first win of the tournament.
Fata though was not as strong a team as has shown by the others was looking for its second win and at certain occasions their bowlers were successful in bringing Islamabad run rate in check. It was in fact Sami who maintained his grip in the batting to get the scoreboard ticking. During all of his 50 balls stay at the crease, he hit four fours and a six on only lose balls and kept above seven runs per over average. Mohammad Irfan with two and Aamer Yamin with one wicket tried their best to keep Islamabad in check.
Earlier, Fata apart from Umer Saddiq’s half century innings did not see any other batsman contributed runs fruitfully to the total. Umer was later run out at 51 in 47 balls. Before him Fata opener Yasir Hameed added 24 runs and later Khushdil Shah added 31 runs to the total. Bilal Asif was another Fata batsman who reached double figures making 16 runs. Junaid Khan, Zohaib Ahmed and Adil Amin shared one wickets each.
The selection committee has handed the names of 18 member team along with six standbys to Ms Tanzeela Cheema, secretary PHF Women's Wing.
The team will be announced in a few days after the arrival of President PHF, Brig (rtd) Khalid Sajjad Khokhar, who is currently out of the country.
