KARACHI: For the second time in four days, Pakistan discard Umar Amin had the tribulation of scoring a century in a losing cause as Balochistan Warriors clinched a 34-run win over Federal United in the Cool & Cool presents Haier Pentangular One-day Cup here at the National Stadium on Thursday.

The Federal United captain struck a defiant 100 before he was last out in his team’s tally of 289 all out at the start of the 48th over when Mohammad Irfan breached his defences. The result means Federal United are eliminated from the tournament with their second defeat in four matches.

The Warriors’ second victory in three outings kept them in the hunt for a place in Sunday’s final. They take on Punjab Badshahs in their last league fixture on Saturday after the unbeaten Badshahs face Sindh Knights on Friday.

Needing a good platform in their chase for a daunting total of 324, Federal United were on the right track until they lost two wickets in three balls of the 33rd over (when Ehsan Adil dismissed Sarmad Bhatti and Ali Sarfraz). Kamran Akmal provided exactly that by setting the pace in the opening over of the run chase smashing three boundaries off Mohammad Irfan.

The blazing start from Kamran, who struck four more boundaries in his 21-ball 31 before being well held at point by Sami Aslam, enabled both Awais Zia and Umar Waheed to bat aggressively in a blazing second-wicket partnership of 105 off 84 deliveries.

Both fell in quick successions; Awais was taken at mid-on for an exhilarating 58 off 54 balls that included nine fours, while Irfan got rid of Umar for a run-a-ball 46 (five boundaries).

Umar Amin kept his team in the game as long as he was there. But lack of partners ultimately proved a key factor as well as the fog that enveloped the arena for much of the second half. The 25-year-old’s fifth List ‘A’ ton off 93 balls featured 15 fours and a straight six off Ehsan, who took 2-59.

Irfan finished with three for 55 but fellow left-arm paceman Rahat Ali was the pick of them with 2-31, while on a night where spinners struggled, Zulfiqar proved quite expensive (0-64 in eight) and was outshone by fellow southpaw Kashif Bhatti who claimed two for 46.

Earlier, the Warriors posted a healthy-looking 323-5 after they were surprisingly asked to bat first by the opposition.

Sami Aslam was the mainstay of their innings with a determined knock of 92 after skipper Azhar Ali and Bismillah Khan (47 off 50 balls, five fours) had set a solid platform during their opening stand of 85 in 107 deliveries.

The Federal United side, already depleted by the departure of opener Imran Farhat to Lahore for family reasons, were afflicted by illness. Abdur Rehman was unwell even before the game started.

The Pakistan spinner bowled only half of his 10-over quota before going off because of dehydration caused vomiting on the field.

Shortly before Rehman went off the field, Zohaib Ahmed also fell ill while bowling the 18th over of the Warriors’ innings and was forced to come off.

And although he returned to bowl another five overs, Zohaib must have wished to stay away after being taken for 74 runs in 9.3 overs that he was able to deliver.

The fielding was also not up to the mark as several chances went abegging; the costliest miss was very early in the piece when Warriors captain Azhar Ali was let off in the slips by Sarmad Bhatti on two in the fifth over when he pushed hard at an angling Sohail Tanvir delivery.

Sohail, who was devastated by his exclusion from the World Cup squad a day earlier, still remained focussed in a tidy opening seven-over spell of 0-22 from the University Road End.

Capitalising on his good fortune, Azhar, who had scored 117 against Sindh Knights on Tuesday, blossomed to reach 75 before his 92-ball innings was terminated by umpire Tahir Hussain’s lbw adjudication in the 31st over even though Awais Zia was bowling his off-spin almost from edge of the crease from round-the-wicket.

Sohaib Maqsood was expected to enjoy himself after making to his first World Cup squad. The powerful right-hander crunched seamer Sarmad thrice in succession to the wide cover fence but shortly after doing that he carelessly threw away his wicket with Sohail accepting a low catch in the covers.

However, Sohaib made up for his soft dismissal (20 off 14) later by running out Babar Azam with a customary bullet-like throw from the cover boundary at a critical juncture in the game.

Sami seemed set to get to a second List ‘A’ hundred until he was caught at midwicket by Umar Amin in the 47th over after adorning his 87-ball contribution with six fours and one six. His partnership with Usman Salahuddin (56 off 44, six boundaries) yielded 80 from 63 balls for the fourth wicket.

Scoreboard BALOCHISTAN WARRIORS: Azhar Ali lbw b Awais75 Bismillah Khan c Kamran b Sarmad47 Sami Aslam c Umar Amin b Zohaib92 Sohaib Maqsood c Sohail b Hamza20 Usman Salahuddin b Sohail56 Ayaz Tasawwar not out26 Kashif Bhatti not out0
EXTRAS (LB-3, W-3, NB-1)7 TOTAL (for five wkts, 50 overs)323 FALL OF WKTS: 1-85, 2-162, 3-201, 4-281, 5-323. DID NOT BAT: Zulfiqar Babar, Ehsan Adil, Rahat Ali, Mohammad Irfan. BOWLING: Sohail Tanvir 10-1-42-1 (1nb, 1w); Hamza Nadeem 10-0-68-1 (1w); Zohaib Ahmed 9.3-0-74-1; Abdur Rehman 5-0-36-0; Sarmad Bhatti 9.3-0-61-1; Awais Zia 6-0-39-0. NOTE: Zohaib left the field after bowling 4.3 overs – 18th over of the innings that was completed by Sarmad. FEDERAL UNITED: Kamran Akmal c Sami b Irfan31 Awais Zia c Usman b Rahat58 Umar Waheed c Rahat b Irfan46 Umar Amin b Irfan100 Babar Azam run out18 Sarmad Bhatti c Azhar b Ehsan4 Ali Sarfraz c Bismillah b Ehsan0 Sohail Tanvir c Sohaib b Kashif15 Zohaib Ahmed b Kashif3 Abdur Rehman c Zulfiqar b Rahat1 Hamza Nadeem not out0 EXTRAS (B-4, LB-6, W-3)13 TOTAL (all out, 47.1 overs)289 FALL OF WKTS: 1-35, 2-140, 3-155, 4-186, 5-205, 6-205, 7-262, 8-278, 9-279. BOWLING: Mohammad Irfan 9.1-0-55-3; Ehsan Adil 9-1-59-2 (1w); Zulfiqar Babar 8-1-64-0; Rahat Ali 9-1-31-2 (2w); Kashif Bhatti 9-0-46-2; Azhar Ali 3-0-24-0. RESULT: Balochistan Warriors won by 34 runs. UMPIRES: Sajid Afridi and Tahir Hussain. TV UMPIRE: Khalid Mahmood. MATCH REFEREE: Mohammad Anees. MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Sami Aslam. FRIDAY’S FIXTURE: Sindh Knights vs Punjab Badshahs (2:00pm).

Published in Dawn, January 9th, 2015

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