KARACHI: Karachi Blues held their nerves to clinch the PCB Inter-region U-19 (three-day) title with a thrilling one-wicket victory over Lahore Whites at the picturesque Mirpur Cricket Stadium in Azad Kashmir on Friday.

On the last day of the four-day final, Karachi Whites required 139 more for victory after reaching 25-2 in their second innings at stumps on Thursday. They lost three wickets in quick succession to find themselves precariously placed at 33-5.

But then came the revival in the shape of a defiant sixth-wicket partnership of 98 between Waleed Khan (39 off 103 balls, four fours) and Hasan Mohsin, who was one of the few successes of Pakistan U-19s’ disappointing tour of Sri Lanka last month.

Hasan took the game away from the Lahore team by striking a brilliant 59 from 91 deliveries with the aid of six boundaries and one six.

Karachi Blues head coach Mohammad Masroor showered praised on his young charges who won their second title within a year.

“I’m very proud of the boys for what they have achieved. To come from behind itself is the resilience of our team after Lahore put us on the back foot by taking a handy lead on the first innings. Personally it’s a tremendous honour for me to see Karachi region win two championships in one calendar year,” Masroor told Dawn from Mirpur.

“It would be unfair on my part to single out a particular individual for this great result. It was a complete team effort and each boy made contribution,” added the coach who will shortly travel with the Pakistan U-16 team on a short tour of Australia.

Seamer Saif Ali Ghauri, who destroyed Lahore Whites’ second innings with remarkable analysis of 31-16-27-7 on Thursday, shared the man-of-the-match prize with all-rounder Salman Fayyaz, who topped with 64 in his Lahore’s first innings besides capturing seven wickets in the final.

Karachi Blues skipper Kashif Iqbal, who was adjudged the tournament’s best batsman for scoring 515 runs, collected the winners’ trophy and Rs400,000. His team-mate Mohammad Hassaan Khan won the best all-rounder award for making 451 runs and claiming 40 wickets in the championship.

Gauhar Hafeez, the Lahore Whites captain, received the runners-up trophy and a cash prize of Rs200,000 and his team-mate Ahmed Shafiq was declared the best bowler of the competition for his haul of 52 wickets.

All three individual awards were worth Rs50,000 each.

Summarised scores:

LAHORE WHITES 229-8 in 83 overs (Salman Fayyaz 64, Mohammad Aamir 56, Hannan Rafiq 47; Mohammad Hassan Khan 6-81, Saif Ali Ghauri 2-49) and 117 in 82 overs (Mohammad Aamir 62; Saif Ali Ghauri 7-27); KARACHI BLUES 183 in 66.2 overs (Kashif Iqbal 45, Zeeshan Haider 28, Waleed Khan 23, , Azizuddin 22, Wasiuddin 21; Ahmed Shafiq 6-48, Salman Fayyaz 4-51) and 166-9 in 55.3 overs (Hasan Mohsin 59, Waleed Khan 39; Mohammad Umar 3-29, Ahmed Shafiq 3-54, Salman Fayyaz 3-53).

Published in Dawn, November 14th, 2015