KARACHI: Unheralded Fata Cheetahs created quite a stir when they pulled off a stunning victory over Karachi Zebras in their Group ‘B’ fixture of the alBaraka presents Haier T20 Cup at the National Stadium here on Thursday.

The Zebras, however, paid dearly for their lackadaisical approach which was apparent to all whether they batted or fielded. But all credit to the Cheetahs who played out of their skins despite being the clear underdogs.

Mohammad Naeem and Asif Afridi took a leaf out of a brilliant spell of seam bowling from Zeeshan Khan who was unfortunate to miss out being adjudged man-of-the-match after a superlative spell that derailed the Zebras.

Khushdil Shah aided Zeeshan by holding all three catches off him; including a brilliant well-judged effort to send back Rameez Aziz when the left-hander attempted to clear the long-on region.

At that stage the Zebras stumbled from 42-0 in the seventh over to 51-3 at the conclusion of the opening 10 overs after Khalid Latif had chosen to bat first in perfect conditions. Among the batsmen to be dismissed was Khurram Manzoor. The Test opener, fresh from his century late on Wednesday, perished after making 33 (34 balls, three fours and one six).

It was then left to Shaharyar Ghani (23 off 17 balls, two fours) and Mirza Adnan Baig (run-a-ball 27, three boundaries) to pick up the pieces in a stand of 53 in 42 deliveries but a final tally of 139-8 turned out to be insufficient.

Zeeshan (3-17 in fours) was ably supported by Asif Afridi whose slow left-armers got rid of Tariq Haroon and Sohail Khan.

The Cheetahs began their chase rather shakily when Saeed Khan and Rehan Afridi fell to Tabish Khan with 15 runs on the board. At 52-4 in the ninth over the game had titled in Zebras’ favour.

But a decisive partnership of 70 from 53 balls between the left-handed duo of Naeem (45 off 38 balls, five boundaries) and Asif Afridi (54 off 37, two fours and two sixes) changed the entire scenario. It was an irony that both got themselves run out with Asif departing when the scores were levelled.

Asif was declared man-of-the-match for his all-round contributions but it was an evening the Zebras would want to forget as the Cheetahs celebrated a famous result with two balls to spare.

Scoreboard

KARACHI ZEBRAS:

Khurram Manzoor c Khushdil b Zeeshan 33 Khalid Latif c Khushdil b Zeeshan 10 Rameez Aziz c Khushdil b Zeeshan 5 Shaharyar Ghani c Zeeshan b Usman 23 Mirza Adnan Baig run out 27 Tariq Haroon c Usman b Asif Afridi 11 Sohail Khan c Naeem b Asif Afridi 11 Azam Hussain run out 2 Tabish Khan not out 2 EXTRAS (LB-3, W-9, NB-2) 15

TOTAL (for eight wkts, 20 overs) 139

FALL OF WKTS: 1-42, 2-51, 3-51, 4-104, 5-109, 6-133, 7-133, 8-139.

DID NOT BAT: Shahzaib Ahmed Khan, Rumman Raees Khan.

BOWLING: Usman Khan Shinwari 4-0-31-1; Irfanullah Shah 4-0-27-0 (1nb, 2w); Asif Ali 4-0-17-0 (2w); Asif Afridi 2-0-24-2 (1w); Zeeshan Khan 4-0-17-3 (1w); Sohrab Khan 2-0-19-0 (1w).

FATA CHEETAHS:

Saeed Khan c Tariq b Tabish 6 Majid Khan b Rumman 15 Rehan Afridi c Rumman b Tabish 10 Mohammad Naeem run out 45 Khushdil Shah c Rumman b Azam 3 Asif Afridi run out 54
Asif Ali not out 6 Zeeshan Khan not out 0 EXTRAS (W-4) 4

TOTAL (for six wkts, 19.4 overs) 140

FALL OF WKTS: 1-6, 2-15. 3-45, 4-52, 5-122, 6-139.

DID NOT BAT: Sohrab Khan, Irfanullah Shah, Usman Khan Shinwari.

BOWLING: Tabish Khan 3-0-17-2 (1w); Sohail Khan 3.4-022-0 (1w); Rumman Raees Khan 4-0-20-1 (1w); Azam Hussain 3-0-24-1; Tariq Haroon 2-0-23-0 (1w); Shahzaib Ahmed Khan 4-0-34-0.

RESULT: Fata Cheetahs won by four wickets.

UMPIRES: Saqib Khan and Aslam Bareach.

TV UMPIRE: Qaiser Waheed.

MATCH REFEREE: Nadeem Arshad.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Asif Afridi.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2014