KARACHI: Peshawar sealed the remaining semi-final berth of the National One-day Cup for Regions when they whipped fellow-contenders Lahore Blues by a whopping margin of 134 runs in the last-round fixture in Peshawar on Friday.

After successive washouts of the previous two rounds of matches, the focus in seventh-round games was firmly focused on the Peshawar-Lahore Blues clash at the Arbab Niaz Stadium in Peshawar with the winners joining Karachi Whites, Karachi Blues and Islamabad for the knockout phase of the weather-ravaged competition.

After finally realizing their already imprudent decision of holding the event in the northern region of the country, the domestic managers of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) opted to play next week’s semi-finals and the final in Karachi instead of the originally scheduled venue of Lahore where the knockout games would have definitely met a similar fate that ruined the matches played in Islamabad, Rawalpindi and Peshawar for almost two weeks now.

And although it didn’t rain on Friday, the all four matches were curtailed by late start following wet conditions of the playing surfaces.

Sensing the imminent danger of light fading quickly in the second half of play at this time of the year, Peshawar took a daring route to bat first when skipper Jamaluddin in the 40-over match.

Peshawar posted exactly 200 before being dismissed at the start of the last over. Test batsman Iftikhar Ahmed played a pivotal game-defining knock of 75 with his 79-ball effort adorned with three sixes and a solitary boundary.

The experienced Akbar Badshah also made a handy contribution of 42 from 45 deliveries as the former skipper helped Iftikhar put on 83 for the third wicket. Both of them were stumped by former Pakistan wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal who in fact made three stumpings in the innings.

The left-arm spin duo of Raza Ali Dar and Zafar Gohar shared bulk of the wickets with the former taking 4-39 in his quota of eight overs.

But Lahore Blues, in their chase, were jolted from the onset when Pakistan Test paceman Imran Khan cleaned up ex-national captain Salman Butt, who is also the Blues skipper, with the second ball of the innings.

The run out of Kamran Akmal and Waqas Saleem for a brace apiece made it almost impossible to wriggle out of the tight corner and it proved ultimately when they succumbed in 25.1 overs for just 66.

Iftikhar returned incredible analysis of three wickets for as many runs in 3.1 overs, while off-spinner Sajid Khan took two wickets as well before Peshawar celebrated their qualification and a date with Karachi Blues in Tuesday’s second semi-final at the National Stadium in Karachi.

Peshawar’s gain was Rawalpindi’s loss when the unbeaten Karachi Whites marched on nonchalantly to their fourth victory of the tournament, this time by 53 runs, in the televised fixture at the Pindi Cricket Stadium.

Sohail Tanvir’s hopes of restricting Karachi Whites to a manageable total vanquished when the visitors collected an imposing tally of 259-8 in the revised 43 overs owing to the game commencing late. The foundation was laid down by opener Arsalan Bashir (57 off 63 balls, five fours and two sixes) and skipper Akbar-ur-Rehman (52 off 55, eight boundaries) in a second-wicket partnership of 103 in 98 balls after ex-international Shahzaib Hasan had gone for a duck.

The talented left-hander Saad Ali anchored the middle overs brilliantly to score 66 from 59 balls while striking eight fours.

Sohail led from the front superbly to claim five wickets for 49 runs in nine overs. The Pakistan T20 specialist then emerged as the top-scorer with 23-ball cameo of 39, while Pakistan discard Sohaib Maqsood struck 42-ball 38 as Rawalpindi’s semi-final dream fade away with the deteriorating light when they were all out for 206 in 37.1 overs.

Former international Anwar Ali grabbed three wickets in an impressive effort to nudge the national selectors.

Khushdil Shah bludgeoned his second century of the competition to play a sterling part in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata)’s much-deserved seven-wicket rout of Lahore Whites in the inconsequential game at the Marghazar Cricket Ground in Islamabad.

Khushdil blasted 11 fours and hoisted four sixes in making an undefeated 102 from only 93 deliveries to help Fata clinch victory with as many as 33 balls to spare after Lahore Whites compiled 256-9 in the restricted 47 overs.

Karachi Blues downed Islamabad by 49 runs on D/L Method at the Diamond Club Ground in the federal capital with the result having no bearing on the outcome except final standings on the points’ table.

Sent into bat at the toss, Islamabad reached 224-06 in their 43 overs with Ahmed Shehzad hammering a quickfire 42-ball 62 (four sixes and five fours).

Promising slow left-armer Mohammad Asghar returned excellent figures of 4-61, including the prized scalp of Shehzad who was stumped by Owais Ahmed Rehmani.

Karachi Blues had been cruising to the target with ease when the game came to a grinding halt with them being a commanding 188-2 and 49 runs ahead of their rivals at that point.

Saud Shakeel (74 off 73 balls, nine boundaries) and skipper Khalid Latif (run-a-ball 52, eight fours) starred with an unfinished stand of 112 as Islamabad braced themselves for a first semi-final battle with Karachi Whites on Monday.

Results on Friday:

Seventh and final round:

At Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi: Karachi Whites beat Rawalpindi by 53 runs.

KARACHI WHITES 259-8 in 43 overs (Saad Ali 66, Arsalan Bashir 57, Akbar-ur-Rehman 52, Anwar Ali 22; Sohail Tanvir 5-49); RAWALPINDI 206 in 37.1 overs (Sohail Tanvir 39, Sohaib Maqsood 38, Sarmad Hameed 30, Kashif Bhatti 28, Tayyab Abbas 21; Anwar 3-30, Akbar-ur-Rehman 2-22, Tabish Khan 2-35, Tariq Haroon 2-36).

At Marghazar Cricket Ground, Islamabad: Fata beat Lahore Whites by seven wickets.

LAHORE WHITES 256-9 in 47 overs (Umar Siddique 65, Sami Aslam 49m Mohammad Hamza 37, Qaiser Ashraf 22 not out; Asif Ali 3-41, Mohammad Irfan 2-44, Ahmed Asfand Yar 2-53); FATA 259-3 in 41.3 overs (Khushdil Shah 102 not out, Hussain Talat 56, Fawad Khan 42, Asif Ali 34; Ahmed Bashir 2-52).

At Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad: Karachi Blues beat Islamabad by 49 runs (D/L Method).

ISLAMABAD 224-6 in 43 overs (Ahmed Shehzad 62, Sarmad Bhatti 54, Shan Masood 40; Mohammad Asghar 4-61); KARACHI BLUES 188-2 in 32 overs (Saud Shakeel 74 not out, Khalid Latif 52 not out, Khurram Manzoor 27, Jaahid Ali 27).

At Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar: Peshawar beat Lahore Blues by 134 runs.

PESHAWAR 200 in 39.1 overs (Iftikhar Ahmed 75, Akbar Badshah 42, Israrullah 24; Raza Ali Dar 4-39, Mohammad Aftab 2-25, Bilawal Iqbal 2-23; Zafar Gohar 2-49); LAHORE BLUES 66 in 25.1 overs (Zain-ul-Hasnain 19; Iftikhar Ahmed 3-33, Sajid Khan 2-10).

Final league standings

(Tabulated under played, won, lost, abandoned, points, net run-rate):

Karachi Whites 7 4 0 3 11 +1.046

Karachi Blues 7 4 1 2 10 +0.785

Islamabad 7 3 2 2 8 +0.195

Peshawar 7 2 2 3 7 -0.170

Rawalpindi 7 2 3 2 6 +0.161

Fata 7 2 3 2 6 +0.043

Lahore Blues 7 1 3 3 5 -1.176

Lahore Whites 7 0 4 3 3 -0.860

Published in Dawn, January 21st, 2017