KARACHI: Kamran Akmal outscored and outshone Mohammad Rizwan with a blistering century on Tuesday night as Federal Areas qualified for the Pakistan Cup final after annihilating Punjab by seven wickets at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad.

Rizwan, the recent understudy to Pakistan wicket-keeper/batsman and current skipper Sarfraz Ahmed, smashed a career-best 140 to help Punjab post 306 all out in 48.2 overs after Kamran elected to bowl first upon winning the toss.

Kamran, however, then tore into the Punjab bowling in a blazing fashion as the pugnacious right-hander plundered as many as 11 sixes and 15 fours in a glorious exhibition of power-hitting to make 170 from just 96 deliveries.

Having already scored a double century — an even 200 for Wapda against Habib Bank Limited in the One-day Departmental Cup fixture at Niaz Stadium in Hyderabad on Jan 3 this year — a second multiple ton was there for the taking. But the Pakistan discard missed out the opportunity when a miscued drive against leg-spinner Usama Mir landed in the safe hands of Asif Ali at deep mid-off with the total on 241 in the 29th over.

It was the 36-year-old’s second three-figure knock— and his 21st in 326 List appearances — in the competition following 105 against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa last Thursday.

Sohaib Maqsood also made good use of batting against a harried bowling attack. The tall right-hander, who also seems to have lost faith of the national selectors, was in a belligerent mood as well to blast seven sixes — including the winning stroke off occasional spinner Asif Ali — and five fours in a breathtaking 77 from only 41 balls as Federal Areas sealed their third successive success with as many as 89 deliveries to spare.

Upfront Abid Ali scored a 41-ball 30 as and Kamran put on 104 in 15.3 overs before Abid was run out by Asif Ali. Sarmad Bhatti failed to utilize being promoted up the order when the left-hander was dismissed by Usama for five.

But man-of-the-match Kamran and Sohaib then continued their bombardment on the Punjab bowling by adding a quickfire 71 when Kamran departed.

The spinners were severely dealt with by Kamran as slow left-armer Kashif Bhatti conceded 91 runs in 10 wicketless overs. Usama’s 10 overs cost 96 with both spinners being hoisted for six sixes apiece out of the 18 maximums recorded in Federal Areas’ innings.

Earlier, Punjab lost their way badly after being well-placed for a total in excess of 370 as they lost their last seven wickets for 33 runs in the space of 41 balls. The collapse was triggered by the run out of Rizwan, who adorned his 123-ball effort with 16 fours and three sixes.

Asif Ali contributed a run-a-ball 64 with four sixes and two fours while putting 168 for the third wicket with Rizwan, who then added a further 67 with Punjab captain Shoaib Malik (40 off 33 balls, three fours and one six).

Pakistan left-arm speedster Usman Khan Shinwari was chiefly instrumental in pegging back Punjab with five wickets for 51 runs in 9.2 overs

Scoreboard

PUNJAB:

Zain Abbas c Saad b Usman 4
Sahibzada Farhan c and b Raza 21
Mohammad Rizwan run out 140
Asif Ali b Usman 64
Shoaib Malik c Saad b Hussain 40
Sohail Akhtar c Raza b Waqas 2
Mohammad Imran c Salman b Umaid 7
Bilawal Iqbal b Usman 3
Usama Mir lbw b Usman 0
Kashif Bhatti b Usman 1
M. Imran Khan not out 1

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-8, W-13, NB-1) 23

TOTAL (all out, 48.3 overs) 306

FALL OF WKTS: 1-4, 2-38, 3-206, 4-273, 5-280, 6-295, 7-301, 8-301, 9-305.

BOWLING: Usman Khan Shinwari 9.2-1-51-5 (2w); Waqas Maqsood 10-2-46-1 (2w); Umaid Asif 9-1-51-1; Raza Hasan 10-0-52-1; Hussain Talat 8-1-67-1 (1nb); Agha Salman 2-0-30-0 (1w).

FEDERAL AREAS:

Kamran Akmal c Asif b Usama 170
Abid Ali run out 30
Sarmad Bhatti c Asif b Usama 5
Sohaib Maqsood not out 77
Hussain Talat not out 14

EXTRAS (W-13, NB-2) 15

TOTAL (for three wkts, 35.1 overs) 311

FALL OF WKTS: 1-104, 2-169, 3-241.

DID NOT BAT: Agha Salman, Saad Nasim, Umaid Asif, Waqas Maqsood, Raza Hasan, Usman Khan Shinwari.

BOWLING: Bilawal Iqbal 4-0-36-0 (1nb); M. Imran Khan 5-0-29-0 (1nb, 1w); Mohammad Imran 4-0-31-0; Kashif Bhatti 10-0-91-0 (2w); Usama Mir 10-1-96-2 (5w); Asif Ali 1.1-0-16-0; Sohail Akhtar 1-0-12-0.

RESULT: Federal Areas won by seven wickets.

UMPIRES: Ahsan Raza and Ahmed Shahab.

TV UMPIRE: Asif Yaqoob.

MATCH REFEREE: Iftikhar Ahmed.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Kamran Akmal.

WEDNESDAY’S FIXTURE: Sindh vs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (2:30pm PST).

Published in Dawn, May 2nd, 2018