KARACHI: Inspired by a magnificent hat-trick from Raza Hasan and Ali Waqas’ brilliant knock of 99, Punjab Badshahs defeated Federal United by three wickets in the Cool & Cool presents Haier Pentangular One-day Cup here at the National on Monday.

Raza, the young slow left-armer, brightened his World Cup aspirations, with figures of five wickets for 61 runs as Federal United reached an imposing total of 313-9 in the stipulated 50 overs, thanked to an excellent century from captain Umar Amin.

Needing to get the required runs at 6.26 per over, the Badshahs, rather carelessly, lost some late wickets before sneaking home with two deliveries to spare.

At one point, it seemed they would win by a much bigger margin but for poor shot selection of the middle-order batsmen.

Left-handed Ali, who was adjudicated man-of-the-match ahead of Raza, led the way by striking 11 boundaries plus a six each over midwicket against Umar Gul and Abdur Rehman during his 99-ball knock.

Shahid Yousuf, once regarded as a Test prospect, batted with supreme confidence as he helped Ali add 146 in 147 deliveries for the second wicket. Shahid’s workmanlike contribution of 75 from 84 balls contained 10 hits to the fence.

Umar Akmal, battling for his World Cup spot, blasted onside three sixes — twice off Rehman — and seven fours in making a 50-ball 70 to keep the Badshahs on track.

Akmal and Ali added 59 in 56 balls before Ali, one shy of a second List A ton, gloved a simple catch to Kamran Akmal while trying to pull Umar Gul.

The Badshahs’ cause was great aided by misfortunes afflicting the fielding side since Federal United were limited to only four regular bowlers when fast bowler Ahmed Jamal limped off with a back injury that curtailed him to just five overs.

Cashing in on their rivals’ shortcoming, the batsmen scored at will against part-time spinner Awais Zia, who went for eight an over in his first spell of five.

Earlier, Umar Amin was the mainstay of the Federal United innings with a sublime 110 after they had lost Kamran Akmal to the first ball of the match when Badshahs elected to field first once Haris Sohail had won the toss.

Kamran injudiciously went for a drive against a full-length delivery from Mohammad Talha but complete missed the line and was sent on his way by Ahsan Raza’s left index finger.

Imran Farhat (24) and Awais Zia (49 off 48 balls, seven fours) repaired the early loss by putting 68 before Imran was trapped lbw off Wahab Riaz and Awais departing in the same manner to Raza.

It was Umar Amin’s turn to take the centre stage. The discarded Pakistan’s left-hander’s fourth three-figure knock in 84 one-day games came off 96 balls with the aid of nine boundaries and one six.

On the way, the elegant left-hander was involved in successive century partnerships with Babar Azam and Ali Sarfraz.

With the talented Babar (59 off 83, four boundaries), Umar put on 104 from 131 balls before Ali Sarfraz (39 off 38, four fours) came together in a quick-fire 69-ball stand worth 107 for the fifth wicket.

In the penultimate over of the innings, Raza put a sudden break on the scoring by taking four wickets in a remarkable five-ball sequence. After Umar had reverse-swept the first delivery for six, Raza saw Haris Sohail take a superb catch when Umar went for another reverse stroke.

The next two balls saw Ali and Sohail also caught to enable Raza complete a hat-trick before the spinner bagged his fourth when Rehman also fell to a catch.

Raza ended his spell with five for 61 with Wahab capturing two for 58 in eight overs.—Khalid H. Khan

Scoreboard

FEDERAL UNITED: Kamran Akmal lbw b Talha0 Imran Farhat lbw b Wahab24 Awais Zia lbw b Raza49 Babar Azam c Umar Akmal b Wahab59 Umar Amin c Shahid b Raza110 Ali Sarfraz c Bilawal b Raza39 Sohail Tanvir c Haris b Raza0 Zohaib Ahmed not out5 Abdur Rehman c Imad b Raza2 Umar Gul not out6 EXTRAS (LB-1, W-15, NB-2)18 TOTAL (for eight wkts, 50 overs)312 FALL OF WKTS: 1-0, 2-68, 3-88, 4-192, 5-299, 6-299, 7-299, 8-301. DID NOT BAT: Ahmed Jamal. BOWLING: Mohammad Talha 8-0-56-1 (1nb); Bilawal Bhatti 9-0-68-1 (1w); Wahab Riaz 8-0-58-2 (1nb, 1w); Raza Hasan 10-0-61-5 (2w); Imad Wasim 10-0-41-0 (2w); Haris Sohail 5-0-27-0 (1w). PUNJAB BADSHAHS: Nasir Jamshed c Rehman b Sohail15 Ali Waqas c Kamran b Umar Gul99 Shahid Yousuf c sub (Shan) b Rehman75
Umar Akmal c Kamran b Awais70 Haris Sohail run out12 Saad Nasim c sub (Sarmad) b Umar Amin21 Imad Wasim c Imran b Umar Amin7 Bilawal Bhatti not out2 Wahab Riaz not out0 EXTRAS (LB-3, W-8, NB-1)12 TOTAL (for seven wkts, 49.4 overs)313 FALL OF WKTS: 1-28, 2-174, 3-233, 4-275, 5-289, 6-305, 7-311. DID NOT BAT: Raza Hasan, Mohammad Talha. BOWLING: Sohail Tanvir 10-1-51-1 (1w); Umar Gul 10-0-51-1 (1w); Abdur Rehman 10-1-67-1; Ahmed Jamal 5-0-24-0; Zohaib Ahmed 6-0-49-0 (1nb); Umar Amin 2-0-15-0; Awais Zia 5.4-0-41-1 (2w).
RESULT: Punjab Badshahs won by three wickets. UMPIRES: Ahsan Raza and Asif Yaqoob. TV UMPIRE: Shozab Raza. MATCH REFEREE: Musaddeq Rasool Khan. MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Ali Waqas. TUESDAY’S FIXTURE: Sindh Knights vs Balochistan Warriors (1:00pm).

Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2015

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