KARACHI: Karachi Port Trust (KPT) reclaimed their first-class status after 10 seasons by virtue of sealing the Patron’s Trophy (Grade-II) title after the final against Omar Associates petered out in a listless draw at the National Stadium on Wednesday.

KPT, who played successive seasons in top flight cricket in 2003-04 and 2004-05 when the Patron’s Trophy was labelled as a first-class competition, qualified for the coveted Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship Silver League thanks to their 57-run lead on the first innings.

On a sultry fourth and final day, with the mercury rising to an unbearable high of 39 degrees, it was a case of batsmen thriving on the placid pitch yet again with Faisal Khan becoming the sixth player in this final to score a century. Faisal’s unbeaten contribution of 121 enabled KPT to extend their overnight second-innings score from 21-0 to 278. At no point they showed interest in chasing down 358-run target to clinch an outright result in their favour despite being aware of the fact that Omar Associates lacked the services of their strike weapon Mohammad Amir.

After Nadeem Javed and Anas Mahmood, the pair who put on title-clinching opening partnership of 278 in the first innings, were dismissed in quick succession following their stand of 64, KPT batted cautiously. Shah Ali Zafar, who scored 69 off 157 balls with the aid of 11 fours, was joined by Faisal in a third-wicket stand that yielded 173 runs before off-spinner Bilal Asif finally trapped Zafar leg-before-wicket. Faisal and all-rounder Raza Ali Dar batted together for 64 minutes when both teams accepted the offer to call off the game 38 minutes before the official closing time when it became clear neither side was in a position to win.

Faisal atoned for his failure in the first innings by finishing unconquered on 121. His 208-ball knock, lasting 234 minutes, was embedded with 18 boundaries. Bilal took 2-115 in 36 overs while slow left-armer Jalat Khan ended up taking 1-68 in 37 overs.

Nadeem Javed’s 190 on day two earned the 30-year-old right-hander man-of-the-match award as well as the best batsman prize for scoring 699 runs in the competition.

A delighted KPT skipper Mohammad Hasan, who collected the winners’ purse of Rs 200,000 and the trophy from ex-chief selector Salahuddin Ahmed, who is now an adviser to PCB chairman for the southern region, said it was dream come true to be playing first-class cricket for his department next season.

“Credit to the entire team for this great achievement after a long time,” Hasan, who himself finished as the leading wicket-keeper with 29 dismissals, told Dawn. “Overall we gelled well as a team and the hard work put in by everybody has paid off.”

Omar Associates had to console themselves with the runners-up trophy and Rs100,000.

K-Electric’s spinner Shahzaib Ahmed Khan celebrated his inclusion in the Sri Lanka-bound Pakistan ‘A’ squad by being adjudged the best bowler for haul of 33 wickets, while Mohammad Imran of Face Fresh won the all-rounder award for scoring 341 runs and taking 16 wickets.

Scoreboard

OMAR ASSOCIATES (1st Innings) 349 (Bilal Asif 103, Jalat Khan 70, Mohammad Amir 58, Fazal Subhan 34; Adeel Malik 5-126, Babar Rehman 3-58, Bilawal Nazir 2-69).

KARACHI PORT TRUST (1st Innings) 406-8 in 83 overs (Nadeem Javed 190, Anas Mahmood 112, Raza Ali Dar 37; Asif Raza 3-62, Bilal Asif 3-91).

OMAR ASSOCIATES (2nd Innings) 414-8 declared (Umar Siddique 111, Fahad-ul-Haq 106 not out, Fazal Subhan 43, Mohammad Waqas 41, Danish Aziz 31; Nabeel Malik 4-142, Babar Rehman 2-38).

KARACHI PORT TRUST (2nd Innings, overnight 21-0):

Nadeem Javed c Saeed b Jalat 24
Anas Mahmood c Fahad b Bilal Asif 29 Shah Ali Zafar lbw b Bilal Asif 69 Faisal Khan not out 121 Raza Ali Dar not out 14

EXTRAS (B-10, LB-1, W-1, NB-9) 21

TOTAL (for three wkts, 100 overs) 278

BOWLING: Waqas Ahmed 14-4-53-0 (9nb, 1w); Jalat Khan 37-17-68-1; Asif Raza 8-4-10-0; Bilal Asif 36-10-115-2; Fahad-ul-Haq 1-0-4-0; Saeed Mutabir 4-1-17-0.

RESULT: Match drawn.

UMPIRES: Ahsan Raza and Ahmed Shahab.

MATCH REFEREE: Amiruddin Ansari.

OFFICIAL SCORER: Syed Imran Ali.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Nadeem Javed.

Published in Dawn, April 16th, 2015

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