KARACHI, July 31: Heroes CC earned a thrilling five-run victory over Factdate Engineering but both teams qualified for the knockout phase of the 28th Karachi Gymkhana Candyland Ramazan Cricket Festival at the KG Ground here on Wednesday.

Asked to bat first in the last preliminary-round fixture, Heroes CC collected 165-7 with Kushdil Shah (44 off 36 balls, two sixes and two fours), Abid Khan (44 off 32, three fours and one six) and Khalid Kail (37 off 24, four fours and one six) their chief scorers.

Slow left-armer Fawad Khan claimed three for 26.

Fact Engineering’s reply ended at 160-5 despite good contributions from Talha Fahim (50 off 27 balls, four sixes) and Mohammad Farrukh (48 off 34, three boundaries and three sixes).

Kushdil Shah and Abid Khan were declared joint recipients of the Man-of-the-Match award.

Heroes CC finished on top of Group ‘C’ with Factdate Engineering finishing second. The latter will play in the first quarter-final against Y.J. Eleven on Thursday. The remaining last-eight ties are Tapal CC v Heroes CC (Friday), Omar CC against Royal CC (Saturday) and Mohammad Hussain CC v Touchme Eleven (Sunday).

Summarised scores:

HEROES CC 165-7 in 20 overs (Kushdil Shah 44, Abid Khan 44, Khalid Kail 37; Fawad Khan 3-26); FACTDATE ENGINEERING 160-5 in 20 overs (Talha Fahim 50, Mohammad Farrukh 48, Usman Farhat 18; Zeeshan Khan 2-36).

Thursday’s fixture: Y.J. Eleven v Factdate Engineering (first quarter-final).