September 30, 2008	Tuesday	Ramazan 29, 2008

KARACHI, Sept 29: Adnan Akhtar hammered a scintillating 97 to help Standard Charted Bank (SCB) complete a hat-trick of titles in the AKU Twenty20 Ramazan cricket tournament at the AKU Ground here on Monday.

The SCB defeated NIB Bank by a narrow margin of eight runs in the final of the fourth edition of the tournament. NIB Bank’s Zulfiqar Lehri kept his side in the game with a sparkling 59-ball 94 before the SCB sealed the victory.

Electing to bat first after winning the toss, SCB’s innings was dominated by Man-of-the-Match Adnan who blasted 10 fours and four sixes while putting on 144 in 81 balls for the fourth wicket with Kamran Ahmed. The latter laced his 32-ball knock of 51 with four fours and a six.

Shahid Hussain, adjudged best batsman of the tournament for making 270 runs, scored 34 of 25 balls that included two sixes and two fours, but it was Zulfiqar who excelled by striking eight fours and four sixes as NIB Bank made 177-5 in their allotted 20 overs.

Slow left-armers Fahim Bukhari (2-28) and Atif Raza (2-32) bowled superbly for the champions.Hasan Abbas of the SCB was declared the event’s best bowler for picking up 14 wickets, while Usman Farhat of Dubai Islamic Bank was named Man-of-the-Tournament for making 370 runs and taking 10 wickets.

Summarised scores:

SCB 185-7 in 20 overs (Adnan Akhtar 97, Kamran Ahmed 51, Fahim Bukhari 2-22); NIB BANK 177-5 in 20 overs (Zulfiqar Lehri 94, Shahid Hussain 34, Anees Shaikh 23; Fahim Bukhari 2-28, Atif Raza 2-32).