KARACHI: Hometown boy Asif Ali entertained the near-empty Faisalabad venue of Iqbal Stadium on Saturday with a dazzling century as Punjab overcame a stuttering start to post 297-9 in their Pakistan Cup clash against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The 26-year-old right-hander, who made international debut earlier this month in the three-match T20 series against the West Indies in Karachi, bludgeoned 121 from only 97 deliveries after seeing half the Punjab side back in the pavillion for only 86 runs on the board.

Asif’s swashbuckling innings, which was also his second one-day century, was studded with five fours and as many as eight sixes. He was the dominant partner in the crucial seventh-wicket partnership of 134 with all-rounder Mohammad Imran.

Imran came to the crease following the departure of Kashif Bhatti for 11 and put on 44 for the sixth wicket with Asif. The Khanewal-born right-hander contributed a career-best 59 with his 54-ball effort containing five boundaries and one six.

After the first three days had seen teams batting first all amassing more than 350-plus totals, Saturday saw bowlers on top after Khyber Pakhtunkhwa skipper Mohammad Hafeez decided to bowl upon winning the toss.

Hafeez was spot on in his assessment of the pitch conditions as the Punjab top-order struggled in the opening overs. Sahibzada Farhan — the hero of Wednesday’ opening game of the third edition with a magnificent 155 against Balochistan — perished or just 14 soon after reaching the coveted milestone of 1,000 runs in only 19 List ‘A’ appearances, when he was bowled by Mohammad Irfan.

His opening partner Zain Abbas was caught behind by Umar Akmal, who took up the wicket-keeping gloves in this fixture, off left-arm paceman Sadaf Hussain for a 25-ball 27.

Fellow left-armer Zia-ul-Haq then put Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in driving seat by quickly getting rid of Mohammad Rizwan (9), Shahid Yousuf (19) and Punjab captain Shoaib Malik (10) in the space of 16 runs.

Zia later accounted for Asif as well as to finish with 4-60 in 10 overs with all-rounder Hammad Azam picking up three wickets for 53 runs from nine overs. Irfan gave away only 45 runs in his 10 overs while left-arm spinner Hassaan Khan bowled accurately as well as the youngster ended up with 0-39 in 10 overs.

Scoreboard

PUNJAB:

Zain Abbas c Umar b Sadaf 27

Sahibzada Farhan b Irfan 14

Mohammad Rizwan c Umar b Zia 9

Shahid Yousuf c Shan b Zia 19

Shoaib Malik c Irfan b Zia 10

Asif Ali c and b Zia 121

Kashif Bhatti c Umar b Hammad 11

Mohammad Imran c Khurram b Hammad 59

Usama Mir b Hammad 13

Mohammad Sami not out 3

M. Imran Khan not out 4

EXTRAS (B-4, W-3) 7

TOTAL (for nine wkts, 50 overs) 297

FALL OF WKTS: 1-32, 2-42, 3-70, 4-71, 5-86, 6-130, 7-264, 8-277, 9-292.

BOWLING: Sadaf Hussain 10-0-89-1’ Mohammad Irfan 10-1-45-1; Zia-ul-Haq 10-1-60-4 (2w); Hassaan Khan 10-0-39-0; Hammad Azam 9-0-53-3 (1w); Israrullah 1-0-7-0.

KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA: Khurram Manzoor, Shan Masood, Mohammad Hafeez, Umar Akmal, Israrullah, Adil Amin, Hammad Azam, Hassaan Khan, Mohammad Irfan, Sadaf Hussain, Zia-ul-Haq.

UMPIRES: Ahmed Shahab and Rashid Riaz.

TV UMPIRE: Zameer Haider.

MATCH REFEREE: Mohammad Anees.

Published in Dawn, April 29th, 2018