KARACHI, Feb 20: Danish Kaneria and Taufiq Umar produced sterling performances as Habib Bank turned tables on Pakistan Customs by 37 runs to regain the Patron’s Cup one-day cricket title on Monday.

Kaneria, who was surprisingly overlooked for the recent limited-overs series against India, devastated Customs’ batting with magnificent figures of five for 21 in eight testing overs at the NBP Sports Complex.

Extracting appreciable turn and bounce, the tall spinner started the rout with a flipper that crashed into Mohammad Ali Niazi’s stumps after the opener had struck five fours in making 35 off 54 balls.

Habib Bank skipper Younis Khan, who marshalled his bowlers intelligently, used Kaneria in short spells with telling effect. Kaneria’s remaining victims all fell under pressure as they tried to hit him out of the attack.

Customs skipper Azhar Shafiq made 27 before he slashed Kaneria to Taufiq at point and later the same combination got rid of Aamir Iqbal (18) and Murtaza Hussain (9).

The only batsman to offer a good fight was young left-hander Fawad Alam, a member of the ICC Under-19 World Cup-winning squad in 2004. He contributed a 55-ball 39 while striking three boundaries before he threw away his wicket by driving pacer Sajid Shah straight to Younis at mid-on.

Customs were finally bowled out for 196 in the 48th over when substitute Riffatullah ran out Azam Hussain for 20 with a direct hit.

Younis also held a tumbling catch towards the end when Stephen John hit part-time leg-spinner Hasan Raza straight into the air. But it was Taufiq who excelled in the field with five catches in the match.

Earlier, Taufiq held the bankers’ innings together with a chancy knock of 88. The left-hander enhanced his prospects of being recalled for the coming Sri Lanka tour by dominating the opening stand of 91 with Humayun Farhat.

Both openers were left off before they opened their account with Humayun being ‘caught’ off a no-ball.

Customs squandered winning of the toss by put up a poor display in the field as they missed a number of catches which allowed the bankers to reach a respectable 233 for nine in 50 overs.

Taufiq, adjudged the tournament’s best batsman and fielder for accumulating 485 runs and taking 10 catches respectively, laced his 137-ball innings with seven fours until he was fourth out to slow left-armer Jalat Khan.

Humayun hammered five fours and one six in scoring 40 off 50 balls. Younis stroked two fours in his 23 while Hasan Raza smashed two sixes in a run-a-ball 28. Both were dismissed by Jalat who took four for 44.

Off-spinner Murtaza Hussain captured three for 48.

Habib Bank’s 12th national one-day title earned them Rs300,000 while Customs had to settle for Rs150,000.

Taufiq eclipsed Kaneria for the Man-of-the-Match award, but the spinner had the satisfaction of bagging the best bowler prize for his 13 wickets in the event.

In fact, Taufiq also shone with the ball with his occasional off-spinners and finished with none for 36 in 10 tidy overs after the bankers were deprived of Abdul Rahman’s services.

The slow left-armer cut his bowling hand while fielding early in Customs’ innings and needed six stitches to stop the bleeding after being rushed to a hospital.

Wapda’s Ahmed Said was declared the best wicket-keeper for his 12 dismissals (all caught). All individual awards were worth Rs25,000 each.

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