KARACHI: As widely expected, Wapda had too much ammunition up their sleeves to cruise into the One-day Departmental Cup final with a clinical rout of Pakistan Television (PTV) here at the NBP Sports Complex on Friday.

The second semi-final was almost a replica of Thursday’s first — during which title-favourites United Bank Limited (UBL) strolled past Sui Southern Gas Company by seven wickets — as Wapda were just too classy for the young PTV side to handle.

PTV, the obvious underdogs, only managed a below-par total of 231-9 after Salman Butt decided that bowling first would be the best option to ensure an early finish to give them enough time to plan for Sunday’s big clash against Younis Khan’s charges at the UBL Sports Complex. The skipper’s wish came true as Wapda finished off PTV with 42 deliveries to spare.

The run chase was merely a stroll in the park for Wapda stalwarts. Kamran Akmal simply toyed with the PTV bowling after a 45-minute break for lunch and Friday prayers, and after he was gone for a feisty 87, Salman and Bismillah Khan further tormented the opposition in an unbroken century partnership before Bismillah glanced spinner Mohammad Irfan to the boundary to close out a rather skew-whiff encounter.

Kamran had once again handed over the wicket-keeping duties to Bismillah, even held a catch in the 30-yard circle to get rid of PTV wicket-keeper/batsman Taimur, who later avenged that dismissal by stumping Kamran when the off-spinner, Waleed Malik, drew the Pakistan discard out of his crease after being hoisted for a six on the previous ball.

The 86-ball knock, that featured two more sixes and 11 boundaries, was sort of an early birthday present for Kamran, who turns 36 on Saturday, while the opening stand between him and Salman was worth 123 in 135 balls.

Salman, who struck only four boundaries on his way to 75 from 103 balls, utilised the time at the crease to gain invaluable practice for Sunday’s title-decider. He wasn’t required to press the accelerator at all given the modest chase. He let Kamran and Bismillah to be aggressive, a component that was sadly lacking in PTV’s innings.

Bismillah, not a regular in the playing XI, was the major contributor with a 70-ball 67 in the 111-run partnership from 124 deliveries with the captain as the Quetta-born wicket-keeper stroking nine boundaries and pulling off PTV captain Saud Shakeel for a six.

Saud once again led from the front with the 22-year-old left-hander emerging as the top-scorer with a 57-ball innings of 47 (seven boundaries) after PTV were in the mire at 22-2 by the seventh over. Saud, who was consistent throughout the competition with 388 runs to his credit, must have left a good impression on national selectors Tauseef Ahmed and Wasim Haider, who were together in attendance for the second day running.

Upfront the intimidating sight of the giant Pakistan speedster Mohammad Irfan armed with the white Kookaburra ball was a confrontation young Ali Imran just could not handle. The 19-year-old right-hander from Islamabad bravely tried to put Irfan in his place but the resultant pull shot was brilliantly taken at short square-leg by Bismillah, who had to sprint from his position behind the stumps.

PTV needed at least three of their batsmen to score big but only a quartet of them crossed the 30-run benchmark while the entire innings had just a couple of productive partnerships with 72 in 89 balls for the third wicket between Mohammad Irfan (33 off 47, four fours) and Saud being the highest.

Former Test right-hander Hasan Raza (34 off 48, two fours) and young Hasan Mohsin (30 off 51) added 54 in 77 balls for the fifth wicket and when they went, Ali Khan (27 off 31, three fours) and Taimur (29 off 26, two fours and one six) put on 54 in 52 deliveries.

Irfan, meanwhile, was on a hat-trick when Ali Khan and Samiullah (0) both fell victims to unplayable yorkers in the 48th over. The left-armer conceded only 33 runs in 10 overs for his three wickets. Khalid Usman took 2-35 in 10 overs and Mansoor Amjad 2-20 in five but Wahab Riaz had an off-day with eight boundaries hit off the Pakistan left-armer in his 0-62 from 10 overs.

Scoreboard

PAKISTAN TELEVISION:

Nihal Mansoor lbw b Khalid 18

Ali Imran c Bismillah b Irfan 0

Mohammad Irfan b Mansoor 33

Saud Shakeel c Asif b Mansoor 47

Hasan Raza run out 34

Hasan Mohsin c Irfan b Khalid 30

Ali Khan b Irfan 27

Taimur Khan c Kamran b Asif 29

Samiullah b Irfan 0

Waleed Malik not out 5

Athar Mahmood not out 2

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-3, NB-2) 6

TOTAL (for nine wkts, 50 overs) 231

FALL OF WKTS: 1-17, 2-22, 3-94, 4-109, 5-163, 6-168, 7-222, 8-222, 9-224

BOWLING: Mohammad Asif 9-0-45-1 (1w); Mohammad Irfan 10-0-33-3 (2w); Khalid Usman 10-0-35-2; Zahid Mansoor 6-0-35-0; Wahab Riaz 10-0-62-0 (2nb); Mansoor Amjad 5-0-20-2

WAPDA:

Kamran Akmal st Taimur b Waleed 87

Salman Butt not out 75

Bismillah Khan not out 67

EXTRAS (W-4, NB-1) 5

TOTAL (for one wkt, 43 overs) 234

FALL OF WKT: 1-123

DID NOT BAT: Zahid Mansoor, Aamir Sajjad, Khushdil Shah, Mansoor Amjad, Khalid Usman, Wahab Riaz, Mohammad Irfan, Mohammad Asif

BOWLING: Athar Mahmood 7-1-37-1

(1nb, 1w); Hasan Mohsin 3-0-24-0; Samiullah 6-0-35-0; Mohammad Irfan 10-0-45-0; Saud Shakeel 4-0-26-0; Waleed Malik 10-0-49-1 (1w); Ali Khan 3-0-18-0 (1w)

RESULT: Wapda won by nine wickets.

UMPIRES: Asif Yaqoob and Imtiaz Iqbal

TV UMPIRE: Ahmed Shahab

MATCH REFEREE: Iftikhar Ahmed

OFFICIAL SCORER: Waseem Abbas

FINAL: UBL vs Wapda (UBL Sports Complex, Sunday, 9:30am).

Published in Dawn, January 13th, 2018