KARACHI: Peshawar showed their professionalism to the hilt, with Iftikhar Ahmed and Gauhar Ali starring with career-best centuries, as they routed Karachi Whites by 124 runs to clinch the National one-day Cup for Regions here on Friday.

In what was anticipated to be a final of nerves, Karachi Whites came second best by a long way before Peshawar joyously celebrated a thoroughly deserved title-winning achievement under the inspirational guidance of their astute head coach Abdul Rehman.

It was not that Peshawar dictated terms throughout a hazy day at the National Stadium. After initial hiccups to start with, Gauhar and Iftikhar gradually took the game away from Karachi Whites — much to the great disappointment of head coach Saleem Jaffer — as the pair shared a monumental unfinished partnership of 276 in 229 balls after the openers had departed with 45 runs on the board.

Gauhar registered his maiden List A hundred by striking 145 from 128 balls with the aid of 19 fours and one six, while Pakistan discard Iftikhar slammed 13 fours and one six on way to 131 off 115 deliveries.

Chasing 322 on a pitch, which the experts had predicted to get slower in latter part of the game, was always going to be a tall order and so it panned out. Karachi Whites were jolted from the onset when Shahzaib Hasan failed to repeat his semi-final heroics of last Monday.

The former international, who masterminded his side to the final with that 171 against Islamabad, literally threw his wicket in the second over. Trying to smash left-arm paceman Taj Wali, bowling from the Pavillion End, somewhere in the vicinity of the Naval Colony adjacent to the stadium, Shahzaib (2) lost the plot when he missed the ball altogether and was bowled middle stump.

The early demise of Shahzaib was the start Peshawar needed in their execution of the game-plan, fastidiously given to them by the coach. Akbar-ur-Rehman tried in vain to produce a captain’s innings to revive his team’s fading hopes with a 48-ball 45, while seeing opener Ahsan Ali (9) brilliantly poached at midwicket by Musadiq Ahmed.

Akbar’s tragic run out in the 17th over saw Karachi Whites nosedive to 76-3. Some 22 overs later, they had been sent packing for 197 in the 40th over before Peshawar skipper Jamaluddin stepped forward to receive the winners’ trophy along with Rs1 million on behalf of his jubilant team-mates.

“This title means a lot to us. The last time we played the one-day final [December 2013] at this venue, we lost because of being an inexperienced team then,” Jamaluddin told Dawn. “Gauhar and Iftikhar were superb and gave us a total which was always tough for the Karachi boys. We executed the plans given by Rehman Lala who is the best coach Peshawar ever had.”

Anwar Ali, who was later adjudged the most outstanding performer of the competition for his all-round efforts — 216 runs and 14 wickets — scored 51 from 47 balls (three fours and two sixes) but it was not enough.

Peshawar’s ploy of an electrifying start never worked when the big-hitting Musadiq Ahmed — the solitary change in the XI from the semi-final side, replacing Ashfaq Ahmed — perished in the fifth over when Anwar Ali fired a well-directed bouncer which the right-hander only managed to glove down the legside to wicket-keeper Mohammad Hasan.

The first wicket was a clear indication how a batsman struggled for 14 balls for a single run before succumbing to the pressure created by the impeccable line from the admirable Anwar who conceded three runs in his opening four overs.

Tabish Khan, who came on first change, almost had Israrullah in his first over but umpire Ahsan Raza negated the stifle shout and rightly so since the impact was outside the line. But the left-hander’s luck ran out in the speedster’s next over when against the run of play, Hasan plucked a sensational one-handed airborne catch to his left when Israrullah (29 off 43 balls, five boundaries) slashed hard without moving his feet.

Israrullah’s dismissal was the melting point for Peshawar who should have lost another wicket in Tabish’s next over when Gauhar, then on 17, was dropped by Tariq Haroon at mid-on.

But the wicket-keeper/batsman grew in confidence after Iftikhar arrived. The salient aspect of their batting was commonsense. While Gauhar repeatedly pierced the offside cordon where most of his runs came from, Iftikhar paced his innings with finesse.

Karachi Whites were lethargic in the field and allowed both batsmen to score freely. Gauhar also had another close shave when Hasan was lazy in coming to the stumps to take the throw when the batsman was not even in the frame.

“I still thought we were in the game at the halfway point despite conceding 40 more runs due to poor fielding efforts,” Akbar remarked while talking to Dawn afterwards. “My getting run out was a crucial since I was hitting the ball nicely until then. Had Shahzaib not got out, we would have probably chased down the runs. But that is cricket and it was not our day to be honest.”

Iftikhar, who grabbed three wickets as well, and Gauhar were even inseparable at the presentation ceremony when they were jointly declared recipients of the man-of-the-match award.

Karachi Blues opener Khurram Manzoor was announced best batsman for his tally of 395 runs, while Rawalpindi skipper Sohail Tanvir won the best bowler prize for taking 15 wickets in the tournament.

Scoreboard

PESHAWAR:

Musadiq Ahmed c Hasan b Mudassar 1 Israrullah c Hasan b Tabish 29 Gauhar Ali not out 145
Iftikhar Ahmed not out 131

EXTRAS (B-4, LB-3, W-8) 15

TOTAL (for two wkts, 50 overs) 321

FALL OF WKTS: 1-9, 2-45.

DID NOT BAT: Akbar Badshah, Jamaluddin, Khalid Usman, Sajid Khan, Shah Faisal, Imran Khan, Taj Wali.

BOWLING: Anwar Ali 10-2-58-1 (5w); Ghulam Mudassar 9-0-57-1 (2w); Tabish Khan 10-0-61-1; Tariq Haroon 4-0-30-0; Azam Hussain 10-0-50-0 (1w); Danish Aziz 4-0-30-0; Akbar-ur-Rehman 3-0-28-0.

KARACHI WHITES:

Ahsan Ali c Musadiq b Imran 9 Shahzaib Hasan b Taj 2 Akbar-ur-Rehman run out 45 Saad Ali c Musadiq b Sajid 29 Anwar Ali b Sajid 51 Mohammad Hasan st Gauhar b Iftikhar 22 Danish Aziz c Jamaluddin b Iftikhar 20 Tariq Haroon c Musadiq b Khalid 8 Azam Hussain lbw b Iftikhar 0 Tabish Khan c Imran b Taj 4 Ghulam Mudassar not out 0

EXTRAS (LB-2, W-5) 7

TOTAL (all out, 39.5 overs) 197

FALL OF WKTS: 1-4, 2-17, 3-76, 4-100, 5-160, 6-172, 7-187, 8-187, 9-193.

BOWLING: Imran Khan 7-0-35-1; Taj Wali 6.5-0-23-2 (4w); Khalid Usman 9-0-38-1; Shah Faisal 7-0-46-0; Sajid Khan 6-0-41-2 (1w); Iftikhar Ahmed 4-0-12-3.

RESULT: Peshawar won by 124 runs.

UMPIRES: Ahsan Raza and Shozab Raza.

TV UMPIRE: Ahmed Shahab.

MATCH REFEREE: Mohammad Anees.

SCORERS: Syed Imran Ali (official); Salman Hussain Kazmi (media).

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Gauhar Ali and Iftikhar Ahmed.

Published in Dawn, January 28th, 2017