KARACHI, April 16: Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) amply illustrated on Saturday that virtues of teamwork seldom go waste when they shocked favourites PIA to land their maiden Patron’s Cup one-day title at the National Stadium.
PIA, for some inexplicable reason, looked out of sorts for the second year running in a limited-overs cup final. Last season, Habib Bank, the winners of most one-day titles at the domestic level, walloped them by 131 runs despite the star-studded status of Moin Khan’s team in the last edition of the Patron’s Cup final at the same venue.
Wapda, who came into the game as overwhelming underdogs, were deserving winners by a margin of 36 runs in extremely hot and dry conditions as PIA folded up for 252 after being asked to chase 289 to claim a record-equalling 11th national one-day championship.
PIA lacked discipline in their bowling to start with after Adil Nisar, the Wapda captain, had no option but to bat first on a placid NSK track. As many as 28 runs were presented to Wapda in no-balls and wides as the PIA bowlers forgot the basic lesson of one-day cricket: line and length.
Tariq Aziz, the 33-year-old right-hander, chose the appropriate moment to contribute his highest score in the tournament. His 82 off 117 balls provided Wapda the platform to build on. Tariq, who was later adjudged Man-of-the-Match, struck eight fours and one six.
The left-handed Bilal Khilji also made a telling contribution as he marshalled the middle and lower order batting to take Wapda to a decent 288 for nine. Bilal remained unbeaten with a 67-ball 55 that included a lot of singles and twos but just three boundaries.
PIA started their innings on a disastrous note when Kamran Sajid and Yasir Hameed were back in the hut by the fifth over with virtually nothing on the board. And when Moin Khan fell to left-arm medium-pacer Sarfraz Ahmed, the end was nigh for the national carrier.
However, there was enough time fir Bazid Khan to prove yet again that his performance against Sri Lanka ‘A’ in recent weeks was no fluke. The elegant right-hander played some delightful strokes in the company of seasoned campaigner Asif Mujtaba.
Bazid top-scored with 75 off 88 deliveries with the aid of six hits the fence. The left-handed Asif nudged and pushed his way to 61 off 70 balls before was tragically run out that ended a fourth-wicket partnership of 120 in 133 balls.
After seeing the backs of Bazid and Asif, who struck seven fours, Wapda relentlessly tightened their grip. The
win also avenged their defeat in the final two years ago at Lahore.
Wapda pocked the winners’ prize-money of Rs300000, PIA had to settle for Rs150000 as the runners-up. Wapda almost made a clean sweep in the individual awards with Adil Nisar (best batsman), Kashif Raza (best bowler) and Ahmed Said (best wicket-keeper) being rewarded with Rs25000 each. ZTBL’s Zahoor Elahi was declared the recipient of the best fielder award.
Scoreboard:
WAPDA:
Tariq Aziz c Mahmood b Najaf 82 Jahangir Mirza c Shoaib b Najaf 14 Adil Nisar c Tahir b Mahmood 32 Aamir Sajjad c Yasir b Aizaz 20 Bilal Khilji not out
55 Bilal Hussain lbw b Mahmood 1 Ali Azmat run out 25 Sarfraz Ahmed b Aizaz 14 Ahmed Said run out 9 Kashif Raza run out 1 Farooq Iqbal not out 0 EXTRAS (LB-7, W-20, NB-8) 35
TOTAL (for nine wkts, 50 overs) 288
FALL OF WKTS: 1-24, 2-66, 3-133, 4-195, 5-197, 6-237, 7-267, 8-282, 9-285.
Yasir Hameed c Aamir b Sajjad 16 Kamran Sajid c Ahmed b Kashif 0 Moin Khan c Ahmed b Sarfraz 29 Bazid Khan c Aamir b Ali Azmat 75 Asif Mujtaba run out 61 Shoaib Khan b Farooq 4 Faisal Iqbal c Bilal Hussain b Ali Azmat 4 Mahmood Hamid c Ahmed b Ali Azmat 25 Tahir Khan run out 14 Najaf Shah st Ahmed b Ali Azmat 1 Aizaz Cheema not out 13
EXTRAS (LB-5, W-5) 10
TOTAL (all out, 49.2 overs) 252
FALL OF WKTS: 1-11, 2-17, 3-61, 4-181, 5-188, 6-189, 7-195, 8-219, 9-218.
DID NOT BAT: (Fazle Akbar).
BOWLING: Kashif Raza 8-0-46-1 (1w); Sarfraz Ahmed 9-2-33-2; Azharullah Khan 10-0-46-0 (2w); Farooq Iqbal 10-0-63-1; Bilal Hussain 5-0-31-0 (1w); Ali Azmat 7.2-0-28-4.
RESULT: Wapda won by 36 runs.
UMPIRES: Nadeem Ghauri and Salim Badar.
TV UMPIRE: Riazuddin.
MATCH REFEREE: Khateeb Rizwan.
