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| March 16, 2006 | Thursday | Safar 15, 1427 |
Zebras lose despite Nauman’s brilliant century
KARACHI, March 15: Despite a brilliant century from Naumanullah, Karachi Zebras suffered a fourth straight heartbreaking defeat in the National One-day Regional Gold League cricket championship on Wednesday.
Multan Tigers, who like the Zebras lost their previous three matches, finally secured their first victory with a nail-biting one-wicket success at the UBL Sports Complex.
Once again the Zebras batsmen had put up enough runs on the board, but lethargic display in the field came to haunt them.
On Wednesday the onus was on the bowlers to defend a target of 291. But the Zebras conspired to put up a shoddy performance, as was case in the past three games, and allowed the opponents to celebrate another unlikely victory.
Hasan Raza, the Test batsman, cut a forlorn figure in the field and hardly motivated his men with unimaginative leadership. One saw a complete lack of enthusiasm among the Zebras ranks and it appeared as if the players were only there to make up the numbers.
The Zebras scored 271 for seven in their first match but let Rawalpindi Rams romped home by eight wickets in the 47th over. They piled up 284 for seven in their next fixture only for Peshawar Panthers to pull off a five-wicket win with three balls to spare.
Then on Monday, the Zebras chose to field first at the National Stadium and watched haplessly as Faisalabad Wolves amassed 352 for seven in 50 overs before being humiliated by 110 runs.
It’s obvious something is drastically wrong somewhere down the line. Just before this tournament started, the PCB inducted Aftab Baloch and Haaris Khan as coaches of the two Karachi teams after predecessors Asif Mujtaba and Rashid both quit because they felt insecure and had received death threats.
Aftab, the Zebras coach, wandered in and out of the dressing-room while his charges looked a dispirited lot as the Tigers chased down the runs without ever looking perturbed even as the wickets fell regularly.
Last man Zulfiqar Babar had the honour of scoring the winning run, a casual flick to the square-leg boundary as medium-pacer Tanvir Ahmed darted one full-length delivery on his leg-stump.
This was the difference between the teams. The Tigers just never lost hopes and kept fighting back.
The redeeming feature for the Zebras was the batting of Naumanullah who once came close to gain a Pakistan cap not long ago. Batting with an air of disdain and arrogance, the right-hander slammed six fours and three sixes in scoring 112 off 124 balls.
Wasim Naeem also excelled with a robust 53-ball 72, which included six fours and two sixes, and put on 106 in 80 balls with Nauman as the Zebras managed 290 all out in 49 overs.
Scoreboard
KARACHI ZEBRAS:
Shadab Kabir c Zulfiqar b Kamran 32
Khurram Manzoor c Saeed b A. Rauf 7
Naumanullah c Ali Niazi b Irshad 112
Hasan Raza c Ali Niazi b Kamran 14
Aminur Rahman c Bilal b Irshad 4
Ali Asad run out 23
Wasim Naeem b A. Rauf 72
Tanvir Ahmed c Saeed b Irshad 8
Rizwan Saeed run out 3
Fahim Ahmed not out 2
Tabish Khan c Saeed b A. Rauf 0
EXTRAS (LB-2, W-5, NB-6) 13
TOTAL (all out, 49 overs) 290
FALL OF WKTS: 1-21, 2-47, 3-82, 3-88, 5-147, 6-253, 7-274, 8-286, 9-290.
BOWLING: Kamran Hussain Abdur Rauf Mohammad Irshad Murtaza Hussain Zulfiqar Babar Aamir Bashir Saeed Anwar
MULTAN TIGERS:
Saeed Anwar c Amin b Fahim 64
Azhar Shafiq c Amin b Rizwan 24
Kamran Hussain c and b Hasan 45
Aamir Bashir c Amin b Fahim 18
Bilal Khilji c Amin b Tabish 57
M. Ali Niazi run out 12
Adnan Akmal c Tabish b Nauman 26
Abdur Rauf c and b Fahim 11
Murtaza Hussain run out 12
Mohammad Irshad not out 14
Zulfiqar Babar not out 4
EXTRAS (LB-3, W-2, NB-2) 7
TOTAL (for nine wkts, 49.4 overs) 294
FALL OF WKTS: 1-71, 2-104, 3-148, 4-158, 5-189, 6-238, 7-262, 8-264, 9-290.
BOWLING: Tanvir Ahmed 9.4-0-61-0 (1nb); Tabish Khan 9-0-58-1 (1nb, 2w); Naumanullah 8-0-46-1; Rizwan Saeed 1-0-11-1; Wasim Naeem 5-0-28-0; Fahim Ahmed 10-0-47-3; Hasan Raza 7-0-40-1.
UMPIRES: Mian Aslam and M. Nazir Jr.
MATCH REFEREE: Azhar Khan.
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