KARACHI: Already-eliminated, Punjab quashed Sindh’s aspirations of qualifying for the final of the Cool & Cool presents QMobile Pakistan Cup with a workmanlike 40-run first success in the last of the league-round fixtures in Rawalpindi on Thursday night (partly reported in Friday’s edition).

Chasing a stiff target of 338 on a benign Pindi Cricket Stadium strip, Sindh badly faltered to be sent out of the competition after capitulating inside 48 overs for 297 to leave table-toppers Balochistan and Federal Areas, who hung onto their second place in the five-team standings, now contesting Saturday’s day/night title-decider.

In hindsight, Anwar Ali committed a big blunder for the second time in the event after his unimaginative captaincy cost Sindh heavily in their first match against Balochistan. This time it was a combination of poor fielding and inept bowling display that allowed Punjab to a total that was always going to be tough chasing in a high-pressure situation.

And so it proved when Sindh’s in-form Khurram Manzoor was gone early in the chase, cleaned up by the subtle change in pace from the impressive seam-bowling all-rounder Fahim Ashraf, who celebrated his induction into the Pakistan Champions Trophy squad with career-best figures of 5-45 in 8.4 overs.

Khurram again looked in decent touch as the discarded Pakistan right-handed opener scored 24 of the first 25 runs his side managed in the opening four overs while sending the ball five times to the boundary.

Fahim further dented Sindh by removing Asif Zakir for 3 with Kamran Akmal gloving the chance offered by the makeshift opener. Akbar-ur-Rehman and Fawad Alam then engineered some sort of resurgence but once the 71-run partnership was terminated by a terrible mix-up which resulted in the left-handed Fawad sadly run out for a 47-ball 32, Punjab regained control.

Akbar, however, found another reliable ally in all-rounder Mohammad Nawaz in a brisk stand of 75 before of them perished in the space of nine runs. Akbar, who batted with conviction to strike a 92-ball 83 while stroking six boundaries and a brace of sixes, was caught by Umar Amin when he tried to get overly adventurous against off-spinner Bilal Asif.

Umar, who had earlier excelled with a 99-ball 111 that eventually earned him the man-of-the-match award, took another catch to see the back of Nawaz (37 off 34 balls, two fours and one six) with slow left-armer Raza Ali Dar snaring that wicket.

Former Pakistan U-19 right-hander Saif Badar, who was belatedly sent in at No 8, fought a lone battle to keep Sindh in the hunt but even he was forced to give up as Fahim trapped him lbw for a 27-ball 38 (three boundaries) which was the second highest score of the innings.

Final league-round standings

(Tabulated under: played, won, lost, no-result, points, net run-rate):

Balochistan 4 3 1 0 6 +0.058

Federal Areas 4 2 1 1 5 +0.017

Sindh 4 2 2 0 4 +0.884

Punjab 4 1 2 1 3 -0.040

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 4 1 3 0 2 -0.460

Scoreboard

PUNJAB:

Kamran Akmal c Saif b Hamza 17 Salman Butt c Hasan b Hamza 20 Umar Amin b Usama 111 Umar Akmal c Saif b Hamza 36 Nasir Nawaz c Saif b Asif 13 Bilal Asif c Saif b Rumman 55 Khushdil Shah c Asif b Hamza 32 Fahim Ashraf c Akbar b Rumman 30 Raza Ali Dar not out 0 Zulfiqar Babar b Rumman 0

EXTRAS (b-4, lb-4, w-8, nb-4) 20

TOTAL (for nine wkts, 50 overs) 337

FALL OF WKTS: 1-28, 2-39, 3-139, 4-193, 5-214, 6-294, 7-296, 8-337, 9-337.

DID NOT BAT: Arsal Shaikh.

BOWLING: Anwar Ali 9-0-66-0 (3w); Mir Hamza 10-0-70-4; Usama Mir 8-0-55-1 (1w); Rumman Raees Khan 10-1-46-1 (3nb, 3w); Mohammad Nawaz 10-0-75-0 (1nb, 1w); Asif Zakir 3-0-17-1.

SINDH:

Khurram Manzoor b Fahim 24 Asif Zakir c Kamran b Fahim 3 Akbar-ur-Rehman c Umar Amin b Bilal 83 Fawad Alam run out 32 Mohammad Nawaz c Umar Amin b Raza 37 Mohammad Hasan c Kamran b Fahim 15 Anwar Ali run out 11 Saif Badar lbw b Fahim 38 Usama Mir c Umar Akmal b Fahim 15 Rumman Raees Khan c Salman b Nasir 15 Mir Hamza not out 20

EXTRAS (lb-2, w-1, nb-1) 4

TOTAL (all out, 47.4 overs) 297

FALL OF WKTS: 1-25, 2-30, 3-101, 4-176, 5-185, 6-206, 7-215, 8-243, 9-267.

BOWLING: Nasir Nawaz 8-0-62-1 (1w); Fahim Ashraf 8.4-1-45-5; Bilal Asif 10-0-44-1; Zulfiqar Babar 10-0-64-0 (1nb); Khushdil Shah 1-0-14-0; Arsal Shaikh 3-0-31-0; Raza Ali Dar 7-0-35-1.

RESULT: Punjab won by 40 runs.

UMPIRES: Ahsan Raza and Riazuddin.

TV UMPIRE: Shozab Raza.

MATCH REFEREE: Aziz-ur-Rehman.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Umar Amin.

SATURDAY’S FIXTURE: Final — Balochistan vs Federal Areas (3:00pm PST).

Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2017