KARACHI, Aug 2: After a bizarre night of cricket, the Port Qasim Authority (PQA), despite losing, sneaked into the semi-finals of the third Advance Telecom presents DHA City Corporate T20 Cup in the early hours of Friday at the expense of the victorious Candyland side.

Having badly lost their Group ‘B’ tie against Omar Associates by a huge margin of 91 runs, the PQA were made to wait for a considerable time before knowing that they have edged out Candyland despite the latter defeating Habib Bank Limited (HBL) by 24 runs.

Candyland needed to restrict HBL — who had lost both previous matches — around the 90-run mark to move above the PQA on net run-rate but Abdul Ameer and Imran Ali quashed those aspirants with three sixes between them as the last pair lifted the final total to 93.

Abdul Razzaq led Candyland brilliantly on the field in defending a modest total of 117, but the discarded Pakistan all-rounder got flustered when wicket-keeper Mirza Adnan Baig made a mess of two simple stumping opportunities before Abdul Ameer’s six made the biggest difference.

Slow left-armer Ali Murtaza, who hails from Dadu, bowled to a probing length as he snared four wickets, including the prized ones of HBL captain Imran Farhat for a first-ball duck and Asad Shafiq. He was duly adjudged the Man-of-the-Match.

Asad, the Pakistan batsman, watched in horrors as wickets tumbled from the other end until he himself was fifth man dismissed at 29 via a return catch to the bowler after adorning his 26-ball innings with two boundaries.

Humayun Farhat, who was the other batsman to get going, made a belated attempt to lift the gloom in the HBL ranks by hammering three sixes in his 12-ball cameo of 27 until a prodigious turner spun like a snake to disarrange the stumps.

Earlier, Razzaq was the chief contributor for Candyland after demoting himself to No 6 in the order. He struck 45 from 32 deliveries, while hitting four sixes and a brace of boundaries. Imran Nazir got a 22-ball 24 with the aid of two fours and one six.

Omar Associates, who finished runners-up to the SBP last year, topped the standings on net run-rate after they were among three teams, alongside the PQA and Candyland, who finished with two victories in three league fixtures.

The first match that started at 8:00pm on Thursday was full of histrionics as it ebbed and flowed until Omar Associates pulled off a clinical bowling effort to dismantle PQA’s multi-talented batting powerhouse for an unbelievable score of 53 inside 15 overs.

The gangling sight of Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Irfan, a regular fixture in Nadeem Omar’s teams during Ramazan cricket, was too hot for Shahzaib Hasan to handle because the first delivery he faced from the giant left-armer uprooted the off stump in spectacular fashion.

That wicket set the trend as Sarfraz Ahmed egged on his charges to go for the kill. Umar Amin suffered the mortification of being dismissed without scoring in both his appearances in the competition, so far since returning from the West Indies tour, when he nicked a catch to Sarfraz off an inspiring Anwar Ali.

Former Test wicket-keeper Mohammad Salman was the top scorer with just 12, while Tanvir Ahmed (10) was the other batsman to reach double figures. Slow left-armer Fawad Khan claimed three wickets for 13 runs, off-spinner Misbah Khan had two for six, Anwar two for 12 and Irfan one for 10.

Khurram Manzoor was run out in a most unlucky way when the ball ricocheted into the stumps at the non-striker’s end after striking bowler Anwar’s hand as the batsman was backing up.

Mohammad Waqas and Fawad Khan had earlier rescued Omar Associates from a tight corner after the first five wickets had gone for mere 22 runs. The right-handed Waqas contributed 59 with five sixes and four fours studded in his 41-ball knock and was well supported by Anwar Ali (13) in a crucial seventh-wicket stand of 64.

Fawad provided the icing on the cake in the last over when blasted leg-spinner Shahzaib Ahmed Khan for three consecutive sixes on his way to a 15-ball cameo of 33. He was later named Man-of-the-Match.

The game was marred by substandard umpiring and was held for sometime over the contentious dismissal of Omar Associates’ Shaharyar Ghani who was declared caught behind.At the time of filing this report, the last preliminary-round tie was in progress on Friday night with Advance Telecom bidding to State Bank of Pakistan from Group ‘A’ with against National Bank of Pakistan.

Summarised scores: Candyland bt Habib Bank Limited by 24 runs.

CANDYLAND 117 in 19 overs (Abdul Razzaq 45, Imran Nazir 24; Usama Basharat 2-14, Ehsan Adil 2-20, Imran Farhat 2-23); HABIB BANK LIMITED 93 in 19.2 overs (Humayun Farhat 27, Asad Shafiq 20; Ali Murtaza 4-12, Sami Afridi 3-8, Junaid Ilyas 2-19).

Omar Associates bt Port Qasim Authority by 91 runs.

OMAR ASSOCIATES 144 in 19.5 overs (Mohammad Waqas 59, Fawad Khan 33, Mohammad Talha 3-23, Shahzaib Ahmed Khan 3-38, Tanvir Ahmed 2-21, Abdur Rauf 2-23); PORT QASIM AUTHORITY 53 in 14.4 overs (Mohammad Salman 12; Fawad Khan 3-10, Misbah Khan 2-6, Anwar Ali 2-12, Mohammad Irfan 1-10).