KARACHI: State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) fell three wickets short of pulling off a sensational come-from-behind win as Habib Bank Limited (HBL) lifted the Silver League title in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship after a battling draw in Faisalabad on Sunday.

It took a defiant innings from skipper Imran Farhat to guide HBL to safety on an anxious final day of the five-day final at the Iqbal Stadium. SBP began the day needing nine wickets to seal a famous win after being at the receiving end on the first two days; HBL, on the other hand, just needed to draw the title-deciding fixture to book their Gold League ticket for the next season.

Given the state of the game, a last-day chase for 304 was beyond HBL’s reach after they had resumed at 30-1. But they managed to survive 100 overs on Sunday during which they mustered 181 runs to take final second-innings total to 211-7 when the bails were taken for the last time.

Imran, who was unlucky to miss out on World Cup selection when the Pakistan Cricket Board unveiled 30 probables on Saturday despite having a consistent season, was seventh out for 80 after battling through 268 minutes. His 217-ball knock included seven boundaries.

Hasan Raza also played a key role in defying the two SBP left-arm spinners, Kashif Bhatti and Zafar Gohar who between them delivered 86 overs, as he helped Imran 69 for the fourth wicket in 29.1 overs.

Runs were aren’t on the batsmen’s minds but occupying the crease was. Imran, however, was also very lucky to escape being adjudged leg-before-wicket when he had not even reached double figures.

Kashif finally got rid of Imran after tea but Abdur Rehman and Fahad Masood survived the last 11 overs without being separated.

Kashif ended up taking four for 74 in 44 overs to follow his 5-113 in the same number of overs in the first innings. Zafar bagged three for 68 in 42 overs after having claimed 3-125 in 44.2 overs in HBL’s first innings. Together, the spin twins were responsible for bowling 174.2 of the 242.2 overs delivered by the SBP in this match.

Babar Azam’s stupendous 266 earned him the man-of-the-match award. Kashif won the most outstanding cricketer for his 42 wickets and 307 runs in the championship while team-mate Usman Salahuddin won the best batsman prize for amassing 649 runs, while the best bowler was shared by pace duo of PIA’s Najaf Shah and Tabish Khan of SSGC after they captured 42 wickets apiece.

HBL bagged the Rs1 million prize for winning the championship while the plucky SBP side settled for the runners-up award of Rs500,000.

Scoreboard

STATE BANK (1st Innings) 162 (Aamir Yamin 54, Zafar Gohar 31, Naved Yasin 21; Abdur Rehman 4-35, Aslam Qureshi 3-22, Aftab Khan 2-28).

HABIB BANK (1st Innings) 356 (Kamran Hussain 76, Humayun Farhat 61, Hasan Raza 45, Aftab Khan 43, Rameez Aziz 28, Fahad Masood 28; Kashif Bhatti 5-113, Zafar Gohar 3-125, Rizwan Haider 2-41).

STATE BANK (2nd Innings) 527-8 declared (Babar Azam 266, Maqbool Ahmed 49 not out, Usman Salahuddin 38, Naved Yasin 29, Mohtashim Ali 27 not out, Zafar Gohar26, Mukhtar Ahmed 26, Rizwan Haider 23; Abdur Rehman 4-222, Aslam Qureshi 3-182).

HABIB BANK (2nd Innings, overnight 30-1):

Bilal Shafayat c Maqbool b Zafar 33

Aftab Khan b Kashif 7

Aslam Qureshi lbw b Kashif 5

Imran Farhat c Mohtashim b Kashif 80

Hasan Raza b Zafar 29

Kamran Hussain b Zafar 19

Rameez Aziz lbw b Kashif 4

Abdur Rehman not out 23

Fahad Masood not out 1

EXTRAS (LB-3, W-1, NB-6) 10

TOTAL (for seven wkts, 114 overs) 211

FALL OF WKTS: 1-28, 2-46, 3-56, 4-125, 5-157, 6-176, 7-208.

BOWLING: Rizwan Haider 8-4-11-0 (3nb); Mohammad Naved 3-0-7-0 (2nb, 1w); Zafar Gohar 42-18-68-3; Kashif Bhatti 44-20-74-4 (1nb); Babar Azam 6-2-22-0; Mohtashim Ali 1-0-3-0; Mukhtar Ahmed 7-1-21-0; Aamir Yamin 3-2-2-0.

RESULT: Match drawn; Habib Bank Limited win title on first innings.

UMPIRES: Riazuddin and Mohammad Asif.

TV UMPIRE: Javed Ashraf.

MATCH REFEREE: Musaddeq Rasool Khan.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Babar Azam.

Published in Dawn December 8th , 2014