KARACHI: A rollicking century opening partnership between Usman Javed and Mirza Adnan Baig inspired Tapal CC to retain their 27th Aga Khan Gymkhana Ramazan Festival T20 cricket title here on Monday.

Chasing a stiff target of 185 in the final against a star-studded IMI Omar Associates side at the AKG Ground, Tapal CC were home by five wickets with three deliveries to spare.

The deserving triumph was set up by Usman and Adnan who together put on a stand of 120. The plundered a bowling line-up featuring no less than three Pakistan players in paceman Mohammad Sami and all-rounders Anwar Ali and Fawad Alam.

Usman hammered 10 boundaries and one six in scoring 72 from just 42 balls, while wicket-keeper/batsman Adnan, who was adjudged man-of-the-match, struck a 33-ball 52 with the aid of 10 fours and a six before were dismissed by left-arm spin of Fawad.

Skipper Daniyal Ahsan blasted three fours and one six to finish the match in an unbeaten knock of 20 from only nine deliveries, while Afsar Nawaz scored a 16-ball 20.

Earlier after being sent to bat, IMI Omar Associates reached 184-4 with Pakistan Test wicket-keeper Sarfraz Ahmed (49 off 37 balls, three fours) and Fawad (39 off 21, two sixes and one six) involved in an unbroken stand worth 72 runs.

Opener Rameez Raja, who had a dream run in various Ramazan tournaments in the city this year, provided an electrifying start with a 19-ball 34 that included four fours and one six; Mohammad Sami, promoted to No 3, hit a 20-ball 21 while Test opener Khurram Manzoor slammed a brace of sixes in his 10-ball 15.

Chief Guest Arif Habib, chairman of Arif Habib Group of Companies, presented the winners’ trophy and cash award to Daniyal Ahsan, who deputised for Tapal CC skipper Atif Maqbool at the presentation ceremony.

Atif, who is known for losing his cool in domestic cricket, left the while match was delicately poised after being embroiled in a confrontation with Daniyal over batting order during the run chase.

Adnan Kaleem, the IMI Omar Associates captain, received the runners-up trophy and Rs200,000 on behalf of his team.

Winners of the individual awards, worth Rs10,000 each, were Soni Associates’ Ahmed Hussain (best batsman for his tally of 201 runs in the competition), Atif Maqbool (best bowler, 10 wickets for 162 runs) and Touchme XI skipper Khalid Latif (player-of-the-tournament for his 229 runs).

The ceremony was also graced by chairman of Aga Khan Gymkhana (AKG) Hakim Ali Khan, chairman of Aga Khan Youth & Sports Board for Pakistan Shameez Mukhi, director sports of Lawai Cricket Stadium Naya Nazimabad Mohammad Iqbal, secretary of AKG regional council (Karachi & Balochistan) Fatima Balwani, AKG secretary Khaliq Pasnani, AKG finance member Al-Amin Touryani, Ex-AKG chairman Ghulam Ali Pradhan, manager of Aga Khan Sports Centre Riaz A. Contractor, Tapal Tea Pvt Ltd’s senior official Amin Merchant, tournament director Riazuddin, media manager M. Nizam and official scorer Syed Imran Ali.

Summarised scores:

IMI OMAR ASSOCIATES 184-4 in 20 overs (Sarfraz Ahmed 49 not out, Fawad Alam 39 not out, Rameez Raja 34, Mohammad Sami 21, Ahsan Ali 16, Khurram Manzoor 15; Ashiq Ali 2-43); TAPAL CC 186-5 in 19.3 overs (Usman Javed 72, Mirza Adnan Baig 52, Daniyal Ahsan 22 not out, Afsar Nawaz 20; Fawad Alam 2-31).

Published in Dawn, August 1st, 2014