KARACHI: Ahmed Shehzad made a strong statement yet again when the skipper inspired Habib Bank Limited (HBL) to the National One-day Cup for Departments title with a five-wicket defeat of Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) at the National Stadium here on Monday.

Shoaib Malik warmed up for the upcoming One-day International series in Australia with an excellent knock of 93 as SSGC, in their maiden final of a major domestic competition, were thwarted by a sluggish start before reaching a below par score of 232-7.

Shehzad led the chase by scoring 68 and with handy contributions from several others, enabled HBL reach the target with 14 balls to spare.

PCB chairman Shaharyar M. Khan distributed the prizes at a ceremony which was also attended governing board member Mansoor M. Khan, general manager domestic cricket Shafiq Ahmed as well as senior HBL officials, including marketing chief Naveed Asghar.

Shaharyar, who paid a visit to national selector Tauseef Ahmed on Sunday to congratulate the former Test spinner on his daughter’s wedding, watched the final without showing signs of being fatigue despite a busy few days in the city.

After a quiet 16 days in the tournament, the final drew a sparse turnout of around 600 solely due to the presence of one man — former Pakistan skipper Shahid Afridi — who made his presence felt in the first half with bowling figures of 1-42 and a direct-hit run out in the fourth over of the morning.

Chasing on a pitch that had eased up considerably made HBL’s task relatively comfortable, and though they endured a collapse of some sort between the 23rd and 33rd overs as well as a misfortune in the shape of Fakhar Zaman forced to retire hurt twice, there was no doubt which side deserved Rs1 million, awarded to the champions along with the winners’ trophy with SSGC settling for Rs500,000 and the runners-up trophy.

The toss played a role in deciding the outcome and once Fawad Alam had lost it, SSGC were resigned to face the consequences which jeopardized their title aspirations. In contrast, HBL’s fifth straight victory in the campaign amply made up for the huge disappointment of finishing runners-up to first-time champions Wapda in the preceding drawn Quaid-i-Azam Trophy final at the same just 18 days ago, when ironically, the toss made all the difference.

It was a straightforward factor which Fawad lamented afterwards while talking to reporters: “The tragedy here is that the toss decided the result to be honest, particularly in the winter when early morning start means coping with the moisture underneath the pitch.

“In other countries, the [playing] conditions generally don’t dictate the result and give both [competing teams] even opportinuties to cash in. Today we were doing the catching up from ball one and ultimately lost.”

SSGC’s struggles began from the onset when Shehzad smartly opened the bowling with occasional spin of Aftab Khan and right-arm pace of Fahim Ashraf. The opening 10 overs yielded just 20 runs and the by the next 10, SSGC had advanced to as far as 47 and lost their top three batsmen.

Afridi’s powerful arm cut Awais Zia’s stay before left-arm speedster Usman Khan Shinwari took care of Umar Amin who made 13 off 38 balls. Afridi then closed Adil Amin’s torturous 43-ball six-run innings.

Asif Zakir and Malik showed there was nothing devilish about the surface as they put on 57 with playing freely. Asif holed to long on after making 41 off 51 balls with five boundaries.

Fawad (22 off 30 balls) then joined Malik in another rebuilding partnership of 59 when the captain got himself double-minded and lobbed a simple catch off a full-toss from slow left-armer.

Malik continued to strike well and hit some brilliant strokes, including a powerful cut against Fahim. But having struck nine boundaries in his 92-ball, the ex-Pakistan captain fell in the nervous 90s for the third time in the tournament when he was well caught by Fakhar running in from long-on in the 48th over.

Imam-ul-Haq and Fakhar got HBL’s response to the chase brightly but with the total of 38 in the 8th over, Fakhar (22 at the time) strained his side while attempting a pull and was unable to continue.

Fakhar’s premature exit saw man-of-the-match Shehzad seize control with another worthy contribution. Fresh from 166 he plundered against SNGPL during Saturday’s semi-final, the right-hander stamped his authority as he outscored Imam in their 105-run stand in 96 deliveries.

A fourth century and third on the trot in the event looked a formality but on 68 (51 balls, nine fours and one six), slow left-armer Mohammad Irfan deceived Shehzad into offering a catch into the covers.

At this point, Fakhar made a futile return but retreated back to the pavilion after adding only three more runs.

After Imam (56 off 85 balls, six fours), Rameez Aziz (0) and Aftab (9) were also gone, the sparse crowd became boisterous when Afridi strode out. But it a short-lived stay as Afridi, who had hoisted Irfan for a six, was taken at deep extra-cover for a six-ball 8.

And minutes after that happened, Afridi packed up and departed from the ground, while leaving Zohaib (29 off 44 balls) and Fahim (34 off 50, four fours and one six) to share an unbroken stand of 61 in 90 balls to bring HBL their first one-day trophy after six seasons.

Shehzad won the best batsman prize for his 653 runs in the tournament with Fahim taking the bowler award for taking 19 wickets, while NBP’s Kamran Ghulam (196 runs and 16 wickets) was declared the best all-rounder.

Shehzad praised his team for the way it performed throughout the event. “Credit to everyone really for helping HBL lift the title after a long time. [Head coach] Kabir Khan and the rest of the support staff also worked very hard to make all of us proud. As captain, I enjoyed the challenge despite having to make some bold [selection] decisions along the way.”

Before the match began, teams, match officials and PCB staff offered Fateha for late Imtiaz Ahmed, the former Pakistan wicket-keeper/batsman who died at the age of 88 in Lahore on Saturday.

Scoreboard

SUI SOUTHERN GAS COMPANY:
Awais Zia run out 7
Umar Amin c Fakhar b Usman 13
Adil Amin c Aftab b Afridi 6
Asif Zakir c Usman b Zohaib 41
Shoaib Malik c Fakhar b Fahim 93
Fawad Alam c Shehzad b Zohaib 22
Saifullah Khan Bangash b Usman 16
Mohammad Irfan not out 20
Zafar Gohar not out 2

EXTRAS (LB-2, W-10) 12
TOTAL (for seven wkts, 50 overs) 232
FALL OF WKTS: 1-9, 2-24, 3-31, 4-88, 5-143, 6-176, 7-208.
DID NOT BAT: Ahmed Jamal, Zia-ul-Haq.
BOWLING: Aftab Khan 9-0-34-0; Fahim Ashraf 10-1-48-1 (1w); Usman Khan Shinwari 10-1-56-2 (3w); Shahid Afridi 10-1-42-1; Ali Shafiq 5-0-28-0 (1w); Zohaib Khan 6-0-22-2.

HABIB BANK LIMITED: Imam-ul-Haq c Fawad b Irfan 56
Fakhar Zaman retired hurt 25
Ahmed Shehzad c Asif b Irfan 68
Aftab Khan c Umar b Irfan 9
Rameez Aziz b Zafar 0
Zohaib Khan not out 29
Shahid Afridi st Saifullah b Zafar 8
Fahim Ashraf not out 34

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-5) 6
TOTAL (for five wkts, 47.4 overs) 235
FALL OF WKTS: 1-143, 2-158, 3-163, 4-165, 5-174.
DID NOT BAT: Jamal Anwar, Usman Khan Shinwari, Ali Shafiq.
BOWLING: Shoaib Malik 8-1-31-0 (2w); Ahmed Jamal 7-0-36-0 (1w); Mohammad Irfan 10-0-48-3 (1w); Zia-ul-Haq 8.4-0-41-0 (1w); Zafar Gohar 10-0-53-2; Adil Amin 4-0-25-0.
NOTE: Fakhar retired hurt at 38-0 before returning at 143-1 and going off again at 147-1.
RESULT: Habib Bank Limited won by five wickets.

UMPIRES: Shozab Raza and Ahsan Raza.
MATCH REFEREE: Mohammad Anees.
OFFICIAL SCORER: Syed Imran Ali.
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Ahmed Shehzad.

Published in Dawn, January 3rd, 2017