KARACHI: Pakistan’s talented batsman Asad Shafiq proved his worth in limited-overs cricket with a brilliant 92 that propelled Karachi Whites into the final of the Cool & Cool presents Jazz National T20 Cup as holders Peshawar were dethroned in a rousing first semi-final in Multan on Thursday.

The diminutive Test star, who is not a regular part of Pakistan ODI and T20 sides, anchored a chase of 179 with consummate ease as Karachi Whites got over the line with as many as 10 deliveries to spare after the tournament resumed at the Multan Cricket Stadium following a two-day break for the Eid-ul-Azha festivities.

It could be an all-Karachi final on Friday night if Karachi Blues succeed in beating Lahore Whites in the second semi-final which was being played later in the evening on Thursday.

The 30-year-old right-hander struck 10 boundaries and three sixes during the course of his 55-ball knock to pick up the man-of-the-match award. It was Asad’s eight 50-plus score in this form of the game.

Asad was not alone in the run chase. Young opener Zain Abbas also made his presence felt by striking nine fours in a sublime 59 off 45 balls. Along with Asad, Zain added 141 in just 89 balls to tilt the match heavily in favour of Karachi Whites after Rameez Raja had been dismissed for nine.

Appropriately, it was skipper Akbar-ur-Rehman who had the honour of hitting the winning runs when he pulled a long hop from occasional slow left-armer Fakhar Zaman to the mid-wicket boundary.

But it was Asad who excelled with a magnificent display of deft touch. Not known for brutal shots, Asad timed the ball with great precision and found gaps regularly without ever resorting to a cross-batted stroke.

All of the three sixes were aimed in the arc between long-on and mid-wicket and all were against left-armers. Asad first deposited Imran Khan straight over long on in the sixth over of the innings. He meted out the same treatment to Peshawar captain Zohaib Khan when then the last two balls of the 14th over were hit over the mid-wicket fence.

Earlier, Akbar decided to field first upon winning the toss. It turned out to be wise move as two-time champions Peshawar were restricted to 178-7 – a total was based around a splendid contribution from Pakistan batsman Iftikhar Ahmed, who slammed an undefeated 78 off 53 balls with the aid of seven fours and three sixes.

Iftikhar’s 11th half-century in T20 cricket was the brightest part of the innings as the right-hander accelerated when it mattered most after his team had reached 102-4 in 14 overs. The real drama unfolded in the last over of the first half of the game when fast bowler Tabish Khan was taken for 25 runs including three sixes – all struck by Iftikhar – with the last two being hoisted on successive deliveries before the overs ran out.

What should have been the final delivery was rightly signalled a no-ball by umpire Khalid Mahmood after receiving the message from his square-leg colleague Ahsan Raza as Tabish bowled a high full toss to the well-set Iftikhar. The ‘free-hit’ was all Iftikhar needed to thump it disdainfully over mid-wicket for a six.

Scoreboard

PESHAWAR:

Riffatullah Mohmand c Hasan b Sohail 3 Israrullah c Akbar b Tabish 20 Iftikhar Ahmed not out 78 Sohaib Maqsood c Asad b Azam 5 Fakhar Zaman run out 23 Imran Khalid lbw b Tariq 7 Zohaib Khan st Hasan b Faraz 2 Anwar Ali c Danish b Faraz 24 Waqas Maqsood not out 7

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-1, W-5, NB-2) 9

TOTAL (for seven wkts, 20 overs) 178

FALL OF WKTS: 1-15, 2-41, 3-50, 4-85, 5-103, 6-106, 7-145.

DID NOT BAT: Gohar Ali, Imran Khan Jr.

BOWLING: Tabish Khan 4-0-47-1 (1nb, 2w); Sohail Khan 3-0-28-1 (1nb, 2w); Faraz Ahmed Khan 4-0-33-2 (1w); Akbar-ur-Rehman 4-0-24-0; Azam Hussain 3-0-26-1; Tariq Haroon 2-0-18-1.

KARACHI WHITES:

Zain Abbas run out 59 Rameez Raja c Imran b Waqas 9 Asad Shafiq not out 92 Akbar-ur-Rehman not out 9

EXTRAS (B-5, LB-2, W-3) 10

TOTAL (for two wkts, 18.2 overs) 179

FALL OF WKTS: 1-13, 2-154.

DID NOT BAT: Danish Aziz, Tariq Haroon, Mohammad Hasan, Sohail Khan, Faraz Ahmed Khan, Azam Hussain, Tabish Khan.

BOWLING: Anwar Ali 4-0-31-0; Waqas Maqsood 3-0-29-1 (1w); Imran Khan Jr 3-0-27-0 (2w); Imran Khalid 3-0-31-0; Zohaib Khan 4-0-40-0; Iftikhar Ahmed 1-0-10-0.

RESULT: Karachi Whites won by eight wickets.

UMPIRES: Ahsan Raza and Khalid Mahmood.

TV UMPIRE: Rashid Riaz.

MATCH REFEREE: Musaddeq Rasool Khan.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Asad Shafiq.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2016