KARACHI: While Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and Habib Bank Limited (UBL) both kept their semi-final hopes alive, United Bank Limited (UBL) extended their unbeaten winning streak in the One-day Depart­mental Cup to six here on Sunday.

Underdogs Pakistan Television (PTV), meanwhile, have been virtually assured of reaching the last-four stage with another dexterous team effort to nail Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) by 57 runs, a result which catapulted Mohammad Wasim-coached charges to second spot in the standings after Wapda — glaringly missing skipper Salman Butt and the experienced Kamran Akmal — suffered an eight-wicket walloping against UBL.

HBL are still hanging in there by a thread after sealing off a 37-run win against Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), the side they crushed to win the title last year.

SNGPL needed the inspiration from Pakistan Test star Asad Shafiq to stay in hunt for the knockout round while ending a run of three successive defeats as they condemned the winless National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) to an eight-wicket drubbing.

Wapda were victims of controversial team selection, which was obviously based on nepotism and which apparently was the reason behind Salman, Kamran and strike bowler Waqas Maqsood sitting out the penultimate-round game at the UBL Sports Complex.

The bone of contention was the inclusion in playing XI of Mesome Hussain — the 22-year-old opener who scored 11 off 33 balls on his List A debut in the first-round tie against SSGC on Dec 28 — at the behest of Wapda chairman Lt Gen (retired) Muzammil Hussain, who happens to be a close friend of the player’s father.

The left-hander’s dismissal for just five in the fourth over, via a superb catch at mid-on by Shan Masood off Sameen Gul, set the tone for the visiting side as a scoreline of 12-1 suddenly became 28-4 by the eighth over.

Mir Hamza further underlined his tremendous improvement this season as the left-arm fast bowler grabbed four wickets in 26 balls as Wapda slid to 48-5 inside the opening 12 overs after Shan, leading in place of the absent Younis Khan, chose to field first.

It was then left to ex-international Mansoor Amjad to propel his team to 197 with a 104-ball knock of 92, featuring nine fours and one six. But it could have been a totally different tale had Sohaib Maqsood held the catch at slip when Mansoor was only on four with Hamza being the unlucky bowler.

Stand-in Wapda captain Khalid Usman scored 30 off 56 balls, while Asif Mahmood (24) helped Mansoor add 79 in 88 balls after Wapda slumped to 119-7.

Hamza ended with 4-43 in 10 overs, while Hammad Azam bagged 3-12 in seven overs and Sameen 2-35 in 7.1 overs.

UBL got the runs in a leisurely fashion. While Shan rediscovered his touch with 64 from 82 balls (eight fours), Umar Akmal spanked seven boundaries in making a 37-ball 42 before Sohaib took over to smash 69 off just 36 deliveries with seven sixes and two fours while putting on 87 in 65 balls with Shan.

And when Mesome, who No. 14 team shirt splet his name as ‘Mehsam’, came onto bowl his leg-breaks, the whole exercise turned just mediocre as Sohaib thrashed five sixes off the part-timer, including three in one over that yielded 24 runs as the discarded Pakistan right-hander raced to 54 from 27 balls. Mesome conceded only three singles in his last over before finishing with 0-51 in four overs as UBL romped to victory with 125 balls to spare.

NBP, batting first, mustered 203-9 at the Niaz Stadium in Hyderabad before Asad brought up his sixth one-day century in scoring 101 from 98 balls (14 boundaries) as SNGPL reached their target in the 32nd over to stay above sixth-placed HBL on net run-rate.

HBL were down and out at the SBP Sports Complex when they slipped to 29-3 in the seventh over after Ahmed Shehzad, who made six, opted to bat against SSGC.

Imran Farhat (67 off 74, four fours) and Ammad Butt (59 off 72, three sixes and three fours) then came to the rescue in a partnership of 115 as the champions collected 248 in 49.4 overs. Abdur Rehman hit three sixes and two fours in a vital 45-ball contribution of 39.

Left-arm paceman Zia-ul-Haq claimed 4-46. But his hard work was wasted as SSGC were bowled out for 201 in 43.4 overs with only Kashif Bhatti passing 30 — 38 off 37, three sixes and one four — while batting at No 7, as Ammad took 3-40 in another incisive spell.

Saud Shakeel (82 off 98, eight fours and one six) engineered PTV’s recovery with a captain’s innings at the NBP Sports Complex as he and Ali Khan (40 off 58, three fours) lifted the score from 70-3 to 169-4 before Hasan Mohsin’s 36-ball 55 (six fours and one six) guided the team to 270 all out.

Sadaf Hussain (4-63) and Ahmed Ali (3-83) shared the bowling honours for KRL, who then ended up totaling 213-9 to suffer their fifth loss.

Results on Sunday:

Sixth round:

At UBL Sports Complex, Karachi: UBL beat Wapda by eight wickets.

WAPDA 197 in 49.1 overs (Mansoor Amjad 92, Khalid Usman 30, Asif Mahmood 24; Mir Hamza 4-43, Hammad Azam 3-12, Sameen Gul 2-35); UBL 198-2 in 29.1 overs (Sohaib Maqsood 69 not out, Shan Masood 64 not out, Umar Akmal 42).

At SBP Sports Complex, Karachi: HBL beat SSGC by 37 runs.

HBL 238 in 48.4 overs (Imran Farhat 67, Ammad Butt 59, Abdur Rehman 39, Aftab Khan 21; Zia-ul-Haq 4-46, Ahmed Jamal 2-48); SSGC 201 in 43.4 overs (Kashif Bhatti 38, Sami Aslam 28, Maqbool Ahmed 27, Muzammil Nizam 25, Adil Amin 24; Ammad Butt 3-40, Aftab Khan 2-20, Nasir Ahmed 2-26).

At NBP Sports Complex, Karachi: PTV beat KRL by 57 runs.

PTV 270 in 50 overs (Saud Shakeel 82, Hasan Mohsin 55, Ali Khan 40, Ali Imran 28; Sadaf Hussain 4-63, Ahmed Ali 3-83); KRL 213-9 in 50 overs (Jaahid Ali 52, Abdul Rehman Muzammil 31, Zulfiqar Jan 30 not out, Sardar Hasan Raza 27, Junaid Ali 27, Nayyar Abbas 26; Ali Khan 3-32, Samiullah 3-37, Mohammad Irfan 2-45).

At Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad: SNGPL beat NBP by eight wickets.

NBP 203-9 in 50 overs (Ali Asad 63 not out, Usama Ali 42, Naved Yasin 30; Mohammad Imran 2-11, Rahat Ali 2-24, Mohammad Abbas 2-33, Imran Khalid 2-37); SNGPL 204-2 in 31.4 overs (Asad Shafiq 101 not out, Imran Khalid 44, Taimur Sultan 33).

Tuesday’s fixtures: HBL vs SNGPL (UBL Sports Complex, Karachi); KRL vs UBL (SBP Sports Complex, Karachi); NBP vs Wapda (NBP Sports Complex, Karachi); SSGC vs PTV (Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad).

Published in Dawn, January 8th, 2018