KARACHI: Bilal Asif, one of many Pakistan discards trying to impress the national selectors, excelled with bat and ball as National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) defeated Sindh Police by 38 runs in their Naya Nazimabad Ramadan Cup fixture here on Thursday night.

NBP made a fine recovery at the Lawai Cricket Stadium from the doldrums of being 86-6 to collect 138-9 in the allotted 20 overs. Bilal oversaw the rescue operation with a 12-ball cameo of 28 that included four sixes after Ahsan Ali hit up 27 off 21 balls with five fours.

Farooq Hussain was the wrecker-in-chief with 4-32.

Sindh Police then found the going tough despite Ammar Hasan contributing 28 off 23 balls with the aid of three boundaries and Aamir Ali blasting 20 from just nine deliveries (three fours and one six). The policemen were locked up for exactly 100 in 16.3 overs.

Bilal bagged three wickets for 22 runs with his off-spinners to complete a fine all-round performance that earned him the man-of-the-match award from former Test umpire Saleem Badar.

Saad Khan picked up 3-21 while Raza Hasan and Abdul Rehman took two wickets apiece for 11 and 24 runs, respectively.

Summarised scores:

NBP 138-9 in 20 overs (Bilal Asif 28, Ahsan Ali 27, Owais-ur-Rehman 16, Naved Yasin 14; Farooq Hussain 4-32, Raza-ul-Hasan 3-19); SINDH POLICE 100 in 16.3 overs (Ammar Hasan 28, Aamir Ali 20; Saad Khan 3-21, Bilal Asif 3-22, Raza Hasan 2-11, Abdul Rehman 2-24).

Published in Dawn, May 19th, 2018