KARACHI: Federal Areas upset odds to seal a clinical eight-wicket victory over holders Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to lift the seventh NBP Disabled T20 Pentangular Cup at the RLCA Gulberg Ground here on Wednesday.

After opting to bat first when skipper Nihar Alam won the toss, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa only managed to post 142-9. Nihar struck 38 from 35 balls with four boundaries to emerge as the top scorer, while Altaf Ahmed (29 off 26 balls, two fours) and Hayat Khan (26 off 23, four fours) were the other major run-getters.

Left-arm seamer Mohammad Haris bowled superbly to three wickets for 23 runs while slow left armer Mohammad Nizam took 2-10 in four overs.

Federal Areas then reached their target 142-2 in 17.4 overs. Skipper Jahanzaib Tiwana struck 42 off 27 balls with four fours while sharing an unfinished third-wicket partnership of 75 with Mohammad Hamza (33 off 19, three fours) after Arif Richard (31 off 33 balls, four fours) and Ahsan Khalil (30 off 27 balls, three fours) added 50 for the first wicket.

Former Pakistan paceman Azeem Hafeez, who graced the final as the chief guest, later distributed prizes along with chief event officer of NBP Anwar Farooqui and marketing director of Jubilee General Insurance Touseef Shah.

Federal Areas received the winners’ prize of Rs100,000 along with the trophy, while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa got Rs50,000 and the runners-up trophy.

Jahanzaib, who was declared man-of-the-match, pocketed Rs5,000 besides earning another purse of Rs10,000 after being adjudged player-of-the-tournament for scoring 146 runs and claiming five wickets in the competition; the best batsman award went Balochistan’s Matloob Qureshi (199 runs), Mohammad Asif of Federal Areas bagged eight wickets for 91 runs to clinch the best bowler prize, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Abdullah won the best fielder award, All the winners were presented Rs10,000 each, while a special prize of Rs5,000 was given to Arif Richard of Federal Areas for his excellent batting performance.

Also present on the occasion were Pakistan Disabled Cricket Association (PDCA) officials, including PDCA president Saleem Karim, honorary secretary Amiruddin Ansari, media manager Mohammad Nizam and a host of other dignitaries

Summarised scores:

KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA 141-9 in 20 overs (Nihar Alam 38, Altaf Ahmed 29, Hayat Khan 26; Mohammad Haris 3-32, Mohammad Nizam 2-10): FEDERAL AREAS 142-2 in 17.4 overs (Jahanzaib Tiwana 42 not out, Muhammad Hamza 33 not out, Arif Richard 31, Ahsan Khalil 30).

Published in Dawn, September 21st, 2017