KARACHI, April 10: Inspired by splendid centuries from Bilal Khilji and Bilal Hussain, Wapda moved into the semifinals of the Patron’s Cup one-day cricket tournament with a six-wicket win over Allied Bank at the National Stadium on Sunday.
Bilal Khilji hammered 102 off 107 deliveries – a knock that was punctuated with 12 fours and one six – was more circumspect than Bilal Hussain, who lashed seven sixes and six fours on his way to a 93-ball 119.
Wapda, needing a convincing victory to go through as the Pool ‘A; runners-up, were heading for defeat at 89 for four in the 18th over while chasing 287. But the two Bilals then joined hands to finish the match in the 48th over.
Paceman Azharullah was Wapda’s other star earlier in the day after Adil Nisar elected to field first. Azhar grabbed a career-best five for 56 as Allied Bank were all out for 286.
Taimur Khan made 66 at run-a-ball with the help of five fours and one six while there were other good contributions from Bilal Asad (51 off 65 balls, eight fours) and Manzoor Akhtar (52 off 45 balls, nine fours).
Scoreboard
for
ALLIED BANK:
Usman Tariq c Ali Azmat b Sarfraz 32
Khalid Latif c Adil b Kashif 0
M. Salman c Ahmed Said b Sarfraz 8
Bilal Asad lbw b Azhar 51
Manzoor Akhtar b Ali Azmat 52
Ijaz Ahmed Jr c Adil b Azhar 26
Aaley Haider c Ahmed Said b Azhar 1
Taimur Khan not out 66
Rizwan Aslam c Aamir b Azhar 30
Tanvir Ahmed b Azhar 12
Ataur Rahman b Kashif 1
EXTRAS (B-1, LB-2, W-3, NB-1) 7
TOTAL (all out, 50 overs) 286
FALL OF WKTS: 1-2, 2-38, 3-44, 4-126, 5-171, 6-173, 7-180, 8-257, 9-279.
DID NOT BAT: (Tanvir Ahmed).
BOWLING: Kashif Raza 10-0-59-2 (1w); Sarfraz Ahmed 10-1-45-2 (1w); Azharullah 9-0-56-5; Farooq Iqbal 7-0-43-0; Ali Azmat 7-0-47-1 (1w); Adil Nisar 7-0-33-0 (1nb0.
Scoreboard
for
WAPDA:
Tariq Aziz c Usman b Tanvir 30
Asif Hussain c Ijaz b Tanvir 2
Adil Nisar c Khalid b Tanvir 2
Aamir Sajjad c Taimur b Ijaz 23
Bilal Khilji not out 102
Bilal Hussain not out 119
EXTRAS (W-11) 11
TOTAL (for four wkts, 46.2 overs) 289
FALL OF WKTS: 1-21, 2-30, 3-35, 4-89.
DID NOT BAT: Ahmed Said, Ali Azmat, Farooq Iqbal, Sarfraz Ahmed, Kashif Raza, (Azharullah)
BOWLING: Tanvir Ahmed 9-0-50-3 (2w); Taimur Khan 7-0-36-0; Mohammad Zahid Sr 10-0-45-0 (2w); Ijaz Ahmed 8-0-49-1; Jr Manzoor Akhtar 3-0-34-0; Bilal Asad 4-0-31-0 (2w); Usman Tariq 4-0-32-0; Rizwan Aslam 1.2-0-12-0.
RESULT: Wapda won by six wickets.
UMPIRES: Riazuddin and Z.I. Pasha.
MATCH REFEREE: Khateeb Rizwan.
Final Pool ‘A’ standings
(Tabulated under played, won, lost, no-result, tied, points, net run-rate):
