BABAR Hussain Agha

KARACHI: First-class player Babar Hussain Agha excelled with a brilliant all-round performance as KCCA Zone-VI chalked up their fourth successive victory in the PCB Senior Inter-District Karachi Region Cricket Tournament at the UBL Sports Complex here on Sunday.

Playing against KCCA Zone-I, the powerful Zone-VI side decimated their hapless opponents by 10 wickets o extend their tally of points to 33 in four matches thus far.

Batting, Zone-I crumbled against Babar’s occasional off-breaks to be dismissed for a measly 129 in their first innings despite opener Farrukh Rizvi making 59 (eight fours and two sixes).

Babar ended up with splendid analysis of five wickets for 14 runs. Bespectacled left-arm spinner Faraz Ahmed Khan took three for 10.

Zone-VI earned a substantial lead of 152 by declaring their first innings at 281-8 midway through the 76th over with Babar and the two openers, Jaahid Ali and Fazal Subhan, all crossing 50.

Babar, son of former first-class cricketer and ex-PCB match referee Munawwar Hus­s­ain Agha, was unfortunate to fall short of a century by just four runs. The slim right-hander’s 96 off 135 deliveries included 17 boundaries.

Jaahid and Fazal struck nine fours apiece in scoring 55 and 54, respectively. Spi­n­ner Mirza Ahsan Jamil captured 4-92.

Zone-I put up a much better display in their second innings before they were all out for 274 in 102.2 overs. Behram Khan batted superbly to strike nine fours and one six in his knock of 96. Zakir Ali contributed 51.

Slow left-armer Salman Khan returned fine figures of five for 85, while Faraz snared four for 65 to finish with match bag of 7-75.

Requiring a meagre target of 123, Zone-VI plundered 125 without loss in only 17.2 overs. Fazal spanked 10 fours and a brace of sixes in scoring 67 and Jaahid hit 10 boundaries in his 51.

Summarised scores:

KCCA ZONE-I 129 in 51 overs (Farrukh Rizvi 59, Agha Safdar Ali 21; Babar Hussain Agha 5-14, Faraz Ahmed Khan 3-10) and 274 in 102.2 overs (Behram Khan 96, Zakir Ali 51, Taimur Mahmood 27, Farrukh Rizvi 26; Salman Khan 5-85, Faraz Ahmed Khan 4-65); KCCA ZONE-VI 281-8 declared in 75.3 overs (Babar Hussain Agha 96, Jaahid Ali 55, Fazal Subhan 54, Rizwan Khan 20, Mohammad Waqas 20, Mirza Ahsan Jamil 4-92, Basit Ali 2-60) and 125-0 in 17.2 overs (Fazal Subhan 67 not out, Jaahid Ali 51 not out).

Published in Dawn, June 8th, 2015

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