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KARACHI Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) crushed a demoralized Habib Bank side by seven wickets at the National Stadium here on Thursday to lift the RBS Pentangular Cup for the first time in their history.
Misbah-ul-Haq played a captain's innings as SNGPL chased down the remaining runs in their pursuit of 222 without any fuss to complete a thoroughly deserved turnaround after facing a 116-run deficit on the first innings.
It was befitting that Misbah should finish the game and he did so emphatically with an onside boundary off Khaqan Arsal's occasional off-spin some 10 minutes before lunch on the fifth and final day.
Misbah, the Pakistan batsman now fighting to reclaim his spot, scored the bulk of runs on Thursday after he resumed on 16 in SNGPL's overnight total of 117-2.
He was particularly harsh on Shan Masood whose part-time off-spinners went for 27 runs in two overs with the veteran right-hander lifting him four times over the fence, three in one over.
Besides those four sixes, Misbah's 89 off 129 deliveries were embellished with 12 fours. Usman Arshad partnered his captain in the unfinished stand of 74 with a 39-ball 25, featuring five boundaries.
The solitary casualty was Naeemuddin, the left-handed opening batsman who added eight runs to his Wednesday's score of 49 before edging one of Taufiq Umar's seldom-used off-spinning deliveries to Khaqan at slip. Naeemuddin's 57 off 158 balls included six hits to the ropes.
SNGPL's latest triumph was their third overall, following their double feat two seasons ago - when the won the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy on first-innings lead and the National One-day Cup under Mohammad Hafeez's captaincy and ironically, Habib Bank were the finalists on both occasions.
Remarkably, all three titles were decided at the National Stadium which has gradually become a favourite venue for the SNGPL outfit.
The end result was simply heartbreaking for Habib Bank's visibly shaken skipper Hasan Raza, who also finished on the losing side when Karachi Blues annexed the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy in that thrilling final here last December.
In fact, Hasan was so distraught at this defeat and instead of attending the post-match ceremony he stormed out of the stadium the moment the game finished in what was an act of unsporting behaviour from a man who has had played fair amount of international cricket.
It was left to Humayun Farhat to received the runners-up trophy and the cash prize of Rs500,000 from PCB governing body's member Vazir Ali Khoja who was the chief guest. Misbah's men were rewarded with Rs1 million besides the winners' trophy.
Among individual awards, each amounting to Rs50,000, Samiullah Khan Niazi's match-turning spell of 5-16 on Wednesday earned him the man-of-the-match prize.
Aamir Sajjad was declared the tournament's best batsman for amassing 604 runs, while his Rest of Pakistan's team-mate and slow left-armer Zulfiqar Babar won the best bowler award for his 27 wickets.
Hafeez's 11 catches were enough to win the best fielder honour. Habib Bank's Farhan Iqbal effected 21 dismissals (17 of them catches) to claim the best wicket-keeper prize.
Scoreboard
HABIB BANK (1st Innings) 484 (Humayun Farhat 80, Farhan Iqbal 69, Irfan Fazil 60 not out, Abdul Rehman 56, Khaqan Arsal 46, Aslam Qureshi 45, Taufiq Umar 43; Asad Ali 4-105).
SNGPL (1st Innings) 368 (Raza Ali Dar 84, Adnan Akmal 70, Misbah-ul-Haq 54, Usman Arshad 48; Abdul Rehman 4-106, Kamran Hussain 3-67).
HABIB BANK (2nd Innings) 105 (Samiullah Khan Niazi 5-16).
SNGPL (2nd Innings, overnight 117-2)
Mohammad Hafeez lbw b Rehman46
Naeemuddin c Khaqan b Taufiq 57
Raza Ali Dar c Hasan b Rehman 4
Misbah-ul-Haq not out 89
Usman Arshad not out 25
Extras (B-1, LB-1) 2
TOTAL (for three wkts, 69.5 overs) 223
FALL OF WKTS 1-87, 2-99, 3-149.
BOWLING Fahad Masood 4-0-8-0; Kamran Hussain 8-3-34-0; Abdul Rehman 27-8-79-2; Aslam Qureshi 20-5-44-0; Humayun Farhat 3-0-7-0; Taufiq Umar 5-1-12-1; Shan Masood 2-0-27-0; Khaqan Arsal 0.5-0-10-0.
RESULT SNGPL won by seven wickets.
UMPIRES Shakeel Khan and Rasheed Bhatti.
MATCH REFEREE Khateeb Rizwan.
OFFICIAL SCORER Mohammad Ahsan.
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH Samiullah Khan Niazi
