KARACHI: The unheralded Fata have all but guaranteed themselves an unexpected semi-final berth in the PCB Inter-region Under-19 One-day Cup after sealing a crucial victory over Rawalpindi in the penultimate round of matches on Wednesday.

Fata’s 11-run win at the Pindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi means they now sit third in Group ‘A’, two points behind leaders Islamabad with Quetta sandwiched between the two in second place on net run-rate.

And with their last fixture against the struggling — and thus far winless — Lahore Whites to come on Friday, Fata stand a great chance of qualifying for the knockout phase of the competition from this pool along with Islamabad, who have already completed the league stage with a six-wicket defeat of Azad Jammu Kashmir at the Diamond Club Ground on Wednesday.

Quetta, meanwhile, not only must beat fifth-placed Karachi Whites on Friday but also hope Lahore Whites pull off a miraculous win against the high-flying Fata to go through to the next stage after defeating Faisalabad by 17 runs in the eight-round game at the Marghazar Ground in Islamabad.

Lahore Whites continued their wretched tournament as they succumbed to 56 all out against Dera Murad Jamali, losing the game at the KRL Stadium in Rawalpindi by a big margin of 156 runs.

The talking point in Group ‘B’ on Wednesday was Peshawar finally suffering their first loss in seven matches when Sialkot nailed them by six wickets here at the NBP Sports Complex.

But despite the reversal, Peshawar still top the pool standings with a marginal difference of +0.14 on net run-rate over second-placed Karachi Blues with both sides having netted 12 points apiece before they clash against each other on Friday.

By winning on Wednesday, Sialkot are now also running for the last-four qualification as they trailed the leaders by only two points with a net run-rate of +0.469 and a good win against Hyderabad on Friday would be enough for them to make the cut.

In other results, Lahore Blues sealed a five-wicket victory against Hyderabad, Multan beat Bahawalpur by four wickets Larkana trounced Abbottabad by 75 runs.

Wednesday’s results:

Eighth round:

Group ‘A’:

At Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi: Fata beat Rawalpindi by 11 runs.

FATA 185 in 48 overs (Salman Khan 76, Nasir Faraz 32; Shiraz Khan 3-29, Mohammad Shawaiz 2-28, Abdul Rashid Minhas 2-30, Farhan Shafiq 2-52); RAWALPINDI 174 in 48.5 overs (Mubashir Khan 63, Raza-ul-Mustafa 50; Mohammad Abbas Afridi 5-27, Mohammad Wasim 3-33, Abdul Raheem 2-28).

At KRL Stadium, Rawalpindi: Dera Murad Jamali beat Lahore Whites by 156 runs.

DERA MURAD JAMALI 212 in 49.4 overs (Shahab Bahar 77, Mohammad 43, Abdul Rauf 34; Danish Butt 4-42, Shafay Malik 3-27, Mohammad Arsalan 2-47); LAHORE WHITES 56 in 18.2 overs (Abdul Qayyum Shahid 23; Fahad Hussain 4-7, Zahid Ali 2-20).

At Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad: Islamabad beat Azad Jammu Kashmir by six wickets.

AZAD JAMMU KASHMIR 63 in 19.3 overs (Fahad Hussain 4-21, Hasan Abid Kiani 3-11); ISLAMABAD 66-4 in 12 overs (Rohail Nazir 35; Mohsin Iqbal 3-15).

At Marghazar Ground, Islamabad: Quetta beat Faisalabad by 17 runs.

QUETTA 150 in 41.2 overs (Rasheed Ahmed 48 not out, Hidayatullah 44, Wahid Bangulzai 25; Mohammad Bilal Javed 4-26, Mohammad Suleman Shafqat 2-19); FAISALABAD 133 in 44.4 overs (Mohammad Awais Zafar 50, Ali Mustafa 25 not out; Mohammad Ajmal Khan 3-15, Mohammad Ibrahim 2-15, Hussain Javed 2-17, Akhtar Shah 2-28).

Group ‘B’:

At National Stadium, Karachi: Multan beat Bahawalpur by four wickets.

BAHAWALPUR 153-8 in 50 overs (Umar Rehman 31, Ali Imran 27, Ahmed Zahoor 24; Mohammad Jahangir 4-28, Shoaib Khan 2-18); MULTAN 157-6 in 45.5 overs (Mohammad Basit 61, Mohammad Asif 24 not out, Ali Hasnain 20; Mohammad Junaid 2-35).

At UBL Sports Complex, Karachi: Lahore Blues beat Hyderabad by five wickets.

HYDERABAD 164 in 38.2 overs (Saad Khan 51, Hasan Ali 23; Mohammad Bilal Khan 3-29, Syed Taqi Bilgrami 3-31, Nasim Shah 3-50); LAHORE BLUES 168-5 in 44.4 overs (Ibtisam-ul-Haq 79, Ghulam Mustafa 51; Hasan Ali Shah 2-24, Mohammad Hasnain 2-54).

At TMC Ground, Karachi: Larkana beat Abbottabad by 75 runs.

LARKANA 149 in 44.1 overs (Mehrab Khan 36, Javed Ali Khoso 31, Umar Khalid 26, Javed Ahmed Lashari 23; Majeedullah Khan 4-40, Abdur Rehman 2-22, Khalid Ali 2-31); ABBOTTABAD 74 in 27.1 overs (Aamir Ali 4-11, Javed Ali Khoso 2-21).

At NBP Sports Complex, Karachi: Sialkot beat Peshawar by six wickets.

PESHAWAR 132 in 41.5 overs (Saqib Jamil 46, Aamir Azmat 23; Ghulam Mohiuddin 3-28, Farrukh Waqas 2-22, Nasim Akram 2-25); SIALKOT 134-4 in 35.4 overs (Mohsin Riaz 60 not out, Haroon Ahmed 45, Mohammad Ali Khan 20; Awais Ali Shah 2-19).

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2018