KARACHI: Punjab Badshahs remained on course for the final in the Cool & Cool presents Haier Pentangular One-day Cup after strolling to a five-wicket victory over Khyber Pakhtun­khwa Fight­ers at the National Stadium here on Wednesday.

Chasing 280, the Badshahs’ second triumph was set up by another enterprising innings from Shahid Yousuf and upcoming left-hander Umar Siddique who together forged a game-changing partnership of 104 off 99 deliveries after Nasir Jamshed and Umar Akmal had been dismissed in consecutive overs.

Taking advantage of some shoddy fielding and inept catching, the Badshahs were home with seven balls to spare. The Fighters were further handicapped by heavy dew that made the ball slippery.

Leg-spinner Yasir Shah was definitely expecting for a much happier ending to the match after being included earlier in the day in the World Cup squad.

But the wet conditions made it tough for him to grip the ball. And yet he still snared two wickets for 53 runs.

It was during his first spell in the 28th over that he produced a magical delivery to outfox World Cup team-mate Umar Akmal.

The youngest Akmal, who was leading the Badshahs in the absence of Haris Sohail — who is due to get married on Wednesday in his hometown of Sialkot — completely misjudged a full-length ball that bowled him for two.

Just prior to that Akmal mishap, Nasir’s chancy innings of 88-ball 83 was gone when he went across after rocking himself to pull slow left-armer Zafar Gohar.

He was let off when Zohaib Khan fluffed a simple chance at square leg.

However, Nasir, who had outscored Ali Waqas in their first-wicket stand worth 74, batted well enough to claim the man-of-the-match award. His knock was embedded with nine boundaries and two sixes.

Shahid then hit the ball crisply to strike five fours in making an 86-ball 63 until he — in a top-class decision by Shozab Raza — was lbw to a Yasir flipper.

Umar Siddique was then left stranded when he slipped while taking a second run for a well-played 62 (53 balls, seven fours and one six).

The final rites were completed by Saad Nasim (18) and Imad Wasim (20) in what was the first loss for the Fighters who are already through to the final.

Earlier, the Fighters collected 279-7 after Junaid Khan had won his fourth successive toss. In hindsight, the decision turned out be quite hasty since fielding in the second half became extremely tough under lights because of dew.

Opener Naeemuddin and Iftikhar Ahmed perished in the first nine overs to the Bilawal Bhatti-Umar Akmal combination with entering double figures and when Israrullah was run out for 46 (50 balls, five boundaries), the Fighters were 86-3 in the 19th over.

Mohammad Rizwan, tipped by some to make the World Cup squad, also fell in the same way as Israrullah when he was run out for a 65-ball 53 punctuated with five fours.

Adnan Raees, who had added 67 in 61 balls with Rizwan, top-scored with a brave 73 after taking a painful blow on his ribcage when he missed an attempted pull off Bilawal Bhatti.

During his 84-ball innings featuring five fours, the left-hander was caught off a no-ball at mid-off by Wahab Riaz. The culprit was Saad Nasim who despite being a leggie had overstepped the bowling crease.

Zohaib Khan, the replacement in the Fighters squad in place of Shoaib Malik, marked his comeback with a 47-ball 51 (five boundaries) while putting 70 off 73 balls with Adnan.

Scoreboard

KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA FIGHTERS:

Naeemuddin c Umar Akmal b Bilawal 7 Israrullah run out 46 Iftikhar Ahmed c Umar Akmal b Bilawal 4 Mohammad Rizwan run out 53 Adnan Raees c Umar Siddique b Imad 73 Zohaib Khan c Nasir b Raza 51 Zafar Gohar c Umar Akmal b Wahab 20 Yasir Shah not out 8

EXTRAS (B-2, LB-8, W-5, NB-2) 17

TOTAL (for seven wkts, 50 overs) 279

FALL OF WKTS: 1-36, 2-47, 3-86, 4-153, 5-223, 6-260, 7-279.

DID NOT BAT: Imran Khan, Junaid Khan, Taj Wali.

BOWLING: Bilawal Bhatti 9-0-53-2 (1w); Mohammad Talha 7-0-40-0; Wahab Riaz 10-0-50-1 (2w); Raza Hasan 10-0-37-1 (1nb); Imad Wasim 10-0-61-1; Saad Nasim 4-0-28-0 (1nb, 2w).

PUNJAB BADSHAHS:

Nasir Jamshed lbw b Zafar 83 Ali Waqas run out 20 Shahid Yousuf lbw b Yasir 63 Umar Akmal b Yasir 2 Umar Siddique run out 62 Saad Nasim not out 18 Imad Wasim not out 20

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-4, W-6, NB-1) 12

TOTAL (for five wkts, 48.5 overs) 280

FALL OF WKTS: 1-74, 2-133, 3-136, 4-240, 5-244

DID NOT BAT: Bilawal Bhatti, Mohammad Talha, Wahab Riaz, Raza Hasan,

BOWLING: Junaid Khan 9.5-1-47-0 (1w); Imran Khan 7-0-50-0 (1w); Iftikhar Ahmed 4-0-23-0; Taj Wali 8-0-54-0 (1nb, 2w); Zohaib Khan 2-0-12-0; Yasir Shah 10-0-53-2; Zafar Gohar 8-0-36-1 (2w).

RESULT: Punjab Badshahs won by five wickets.

UMPIRES: Qaiser Waheed and Shozab Raza.

TV UMPIRE: Ahsan Raza.

MATCH REFEREE: Musaddeq Rasool Khan

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Nasir Jamshed.

THURSDAY’S FIXTURE: Balochistan Warriors vs Federal United (1:00pm)

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2015

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