RAWALPINDI: Unheralded Musadiq Ahmed couldn’t have asked for better stage than the Cool & Cool presents Haier Mobile T20 Cup to showcase his batting qualities with a swashbuckling half-century in a seven-wicket win for Peshawar against Islamabad on Thursday.

The 29-year-old right-hander from Nowshera made a stiff target of 182 looked ridiculously simple while blasting 57 off just 18 balls to help the defending champions sealed the Group ‘B’ game at the Pindi Cricket Stadium with 15 deliveries to spare.

Musadiq, making only his second T20 appearance after debuting in the five-wicket victory against Faisalabad on Wednesday, smashed four towering sixes and six fours as he comfortably outscored Ail Amin (16 off 15 balls) in their unfinished partnership of 77 in just 33 balls.

Musadiq treated discarded Pakistan seamer Umar Gul with disdain to strike successive boundaries in the 18th over to end the match. Earlier, the luckless Umar suffered at Riffatullah Mohmand’s hands as well, scoring 24 from 11 deliveries on his way to a majestic 61 from 38 balls.

Riffatullah, 38, set the tone by dominating the first-wicket stand of 87 in 57 balls with Israrullah as the right-hander hammered nine fours and three sixes before being stumped off Islamabad skipper Imad Wasim.

Imad, in fact, was the only bowler to command respect from the rampaging Peshawar batsmen with excellent figures of two for 18 in four overs. His second victim was the left-handed Israrullah who was caught in the deep for a 24-ball 35 (five fours and one six).

Earlier, Afaq Raheem’s highest T20 score of 77 (52 balls, 12 boundaries) inspired Islamabad to an imposing 181-2. He added 117 in 88 balls for the second wicket before becoming an unlikely wicket for Mohammad Rizwan, the Pakistan wicket-keeper/batsman who was thrown the ball by inspirational Peshawar skipper Zohaib Khan.

Remarkably, Rizwan’s innocuous off-spin fetched him a wicket on the very first ball he had bowled in a T20 fixture as Afaq attempted a big heave.

Babar Azam (60 off 49 balls, six fours and one six) and Imad (27 off 13, four boundaries) provided the finishing touches but Musadiq outshone their heroics with a sensational effort to clinch the man-of-the-match award.

For the third day running, a match in which Sialkot were one of the teams yielded a single-digit result by runs. But unlike the first two games, Sialkot were at the receiving end this time as Multan clinched the Group ‘A’ clash at the Diamond Club Ground in Islamabad by seven runs.

Kamran Akmal’s captain knock of 51 (35 balls, 10 fours) helped Multan post 162-7. Sialkot stumbled in the chase as they lost four wickets for 23 runs before Pakistan stars Haris Sohail (43 off 47, four fours and one six) and captain Shoaib Malik (43 off 33, three fours and two sixes) revived their hopes with a partnership of 82 before falling to Rizwan Haider with Imran Farhat catching both of them.

Usama Mir hit a swift 30 off 16 balls but it was enough as Sialkot reached 155-9 at the finish.

Kamran was declared man-of-the-match.

Faisalabad’s wretched start in the competition continued as the inaugural winners of the national T20 trophy were blown away by Karachi Whites in the day’s second match at the Diamond Club Ground.

Despite a blazing 40 (29 balls, three sixes and two fours), Faisalabad managed 158-5. Man-of-the-match Khalid Latif then played another outstanding innings (71 off 44 balls, six fours and four sixes) as he and Khurram Manzoor (47 off 45, four fours and one six) not only inspired Karachi Blues home by seven wickets but also ensured they say atop Group ‘B’ on a superior net run-rate.

In a nail-biting finish, Bahawalpur bounced back to tie their Group ‘A’ fixture against Hyderabad before winning the one-over eliminator at the Pindi Cricket Stadium. Both teams totalled 160 at the end of the stipulated 20 overs with Hyderabad losing five wickets to four lost by their opponents.

Faisal Mubashir, the 28-year-old Karachi-born right-handed batsman, extended his remarkable form with his fifth 50-plus score — including three in the qualifying tournament — by making an undefeated 61 (47 balls, seven boundaries) to win another man-of-the-match prize.

Hyderabad seemed coasting to their target but their rivals clawed back through energetic fielding. The highlight being a stupendous take in the deep by Moinuddin who scooped a brilliant low catch inches off the turf to get rid of Lal Kumar.

In the one-over eliminator, Hyderabad lost both their wickets for two runs before Faisal calmly hit the winning boundary for Bahawalpur on the fourth ball.

At the time of filing this report the game Rawalpindi were playing Karachi Whites in the Group ‘A’ fixture at the Pindi Cricket Stadium.

Multan, meanwhile, put up a grand show late on Wednesday night to outgun Rawalpindi by a handsome margin of eight wickets. Kamran Akmal’s men restricted Rawalpindi to 132 all out despite the top eight batsmen reaching double figures.

Kamran, who was adjudged man-of-the-match, then struck 10 boundaries in scoring a 35-ball 51 to set up the victory which was accomplished by the unfinished stand of 48 between Sohaib Maqsood (24) and Naved Yasin (28).

Thursday’s results:

Group ‘A’:

At Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi: Match tied (Bahawalpur beat Hyderabad in one-over eliminator).

BAHAWALPUR 160-4 in 20 overs (Faisal Mubashir 61 not out, Riasat Ali 44, Mohammad Yasir 42; Mir Ali Talpur 2-38); HYDERABAD 160-5 in 20 overs (Azeem Ghumman 50, Faisal Athar 50, Sharjeel Khan 31, Shoaib Leghari 25; Saadat Munir 2-19).

At Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad: Multan beat Sialkot by seven runs.

MULTAN 162-7 in 20 overs (Kamran Akmal 51, Naved Yasin 26, Sohaib Maqsood 24; Bilal Asif 3-32, Shoaib Malik 2-16); SIALKOT 155-9 in 20 overs (Haris Sohail 43, Shoaib Malik 43, Usama Mir 30; Majid Ali 3-29, Aamir Yamin 2-18, Rizwan Haider 2-38).

Group ‘B’:

At Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad: Karachi Blues beat Faisalabad by seven wickets.

FAISALABAD 158-5 in 20 overs (Asif Ali 40, Misbah-ul-Haq 29, Raheel Ameer 24, Khurram Shehzad 22; Rumman Raees Khan 2-32, Abdul Ameer 2-38); KARACHI BLUES 160-3 in 18.2 overs (Khalid Latif 71 not out, Khurram Manzoor 47, Anwar Ali 22 not out).

At Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi: Peshawar beat Islamabad by seven wickets.

ISLAMABAD 181-2 in 20 overs (Afaq Raheem 77, Babar Azam 60 not out, Imad Wasim 27 not out); PESHAWAR (Riffatullah Mohmand 61, Musadiq Ahmed 57 not out, Israrullah 35, Adil Amin 16 not out; Imad Wasim 2-18).

Wednesday’s remaining result:

Group ‘A’:

At Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi: Multan beat Rawalpindi by eight wickets.

RAWALPINDI 132 in 19.5 overs (Awais Zia 33; Kashif Naved 2-15, Rahat Ali 2-19, Zulfiqar Babar 2-20, Majid Ali 2-36); MULTAN 133-2 in 17.5 overs (Kamran Akmal 51, Naved Yasin 28 not out, Sohaib Maqsood 24 not out, Imran Farhat 24; Hammad Azam 2-29).

Friday’s fixtures:

Multan vs Bahawalpur (Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad, 10:00am); Faisalabad vs Abbottabad (Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi, 12:00noon); Karachi Whites vs Hyderabad (Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad, 2:00pm); Lahore Whites vs

Peshawar (Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi, 4:00pm); Islamabad vs Karachi Blues (Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi).

Published in Dawn, September 11th, 2015

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