SSGCL launch grand fightback against HBL

Published November 16, 2018
KARACHI: SSGCL skipper Umar Amin is bowled by HBL paceman Umar Gul for 77 during their Super Eight round match of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship at the UBL Sports Complex on Thursday.—Tahir Jamal / White Star
KARACHI: SSGCL skipper Umar Amin is bowled by HBL paceman Umar Gul for 77 during their Super Eight round match of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship at the UBL Sports Complex on Thursday.—Tahir Jamal / White Star

KARACHI: An all-round batting effort inspired Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) into a winning position against Habib Bank Limited (HBL) in their second-round Super Eight clash in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship here on Thursday.

Former champions and last season’s runners-up Wapda, meanwhile, cruised to an innings and 24-run victory over Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) at the SBP Sports Complex to keep alive extremely slim hopes of making the Dec 4-8 final from Group-I.

Having already wiped off the first-innings deficit of 63 runs by reaching 84-1 at stumps at the UBL Sports Complex on Wednesday, SSGCL added a further 296 to their overnight tally before skipper Umar Amin closed the second innings at 380-5 with five batsmen crossing the half-century mark.

Wapda whip KRL by innings inside three days

Set a stiff target of 318, HBL succumbed against the Pakistan pace duo of Mohammad Amir and Usman Khan Shinwari with each left-armer taking a wicket to leave the bankers tottering at 12-2.

Realistically speaking, HBL’s solitary hope of victory now chiefly lies on the shoulders of discarded Pakistan batsman Umar Akmal. If the right-hander fires on all cylinders with a sense of responsibility on Friday’s fourth and final day, SSGCL will have their work cut out.

Thus far, Umar has only managed to spark in flashes but such are his credentials that anything is possible and that at least, still keeps HBL in the hunt for a place in the final from Group-I.

The left-handed partnership of Sami Aslam and Umar Amin set the platform for SSGCL’s tremendous resurgence on a day three pitch that should have been more helpful to the spinners. The experienced Abdur Rehman was surprisingly used for only seven overs in which the former Pakistan left-armer conceded 33 for the wicket of Adil Amin (61 off 109 balls, eight fours) through a freakish catch by Mohammad Waqas at short leg when the right-hander tried to flick.

Umar Amin (77 off 131 balls, 12 boundaries) and Sami (54 off 72, six fours) extended their second-wicket stand to 121 when Sami was bowled ex-Pakistan paceman Umar Gul.

Umar also bagged his unrelated namesake when the SGGCL captain went for a pull but completely missed the line of the delivery when the veteran paceman switched to round-the-wicket mode.

The game was evenly balanced when the tea break arrived with SSGCL holding a leading of 203 at 270-5. But after the interval, Fawad Alam (85 off 138, eight fours) and Aamir Yamin — who almost matched his 80 in the first innings with 74 (159 balls, six fours and one six) took the game away from HBL in a decisive unbroken partnership of 141 in 159 minutes.

It was then left to Usman and Amir to see off Waqas (0) and Saad Khan (4) and leave SSGCL on top.

KRL, in the meantime, were blown off for 162 by the pace-spin combination of Waqas Maqsood (3-28) and Zahid Mansoor (4-17 in 13.1 overs) after having begun their second innings at 25-1. Barring skipper Usman Arshad (64 off 114 balls, seven boundaries) no one else was in a mood to prolong the match.

Anwar Ali played a captain’s innings to give Karachi Whites a 27-run lead over Peshawar at the Southend Club. The hosts resumed at 230-6 in reply to Peshawar’s 311 but Anwar scored an undefeated 81 (98 balls, five sixes and four fours) to steer his team to 338.

Peshawar then reached 212-6 in the second innings to lead by 175 with young Nabi Gul contributing 62, while off-spinner Waleed Ahmed bowled well to take 4-61 in 23 overs.

Close of play scores and result on Thursday (day three of four):

Super Eight stage, second round:

Group-I:

At SBP Sports Complex, Karachi: Wapda beat KRL by an innings and 24 runs.

KRL 110 in 44.4 overs (Nayyar Abbas 42, Shoaib Ahmed Minhas 27; Zahid Mansoor 4-37, Wahab Riaz 2-15, Khalid Usman 2-23) and 162 in 83.1 overs (Usman Arshad 64; Zahid Mansoor 4-17, Waqas Maqsood 3-28); WAPDA 296 in 112.5 overs (Mohammad Abubakar 67, Kamran Akmal 52, Zahid Mansoor 45, Wahab Riaz 30, Salman Butt 28, Ali Shan 25; Sadaf Hussain 3-75, Ahmed Bashir 2-43, Yasir Ali 2-45, Nauman Ali 2-71).

Group-II:

At UBL Sports Complex, Karachi: SSGCL 211 in 54.2 overs (Aamir Yamin 80, Saifullah Khan Bangash 48, Fawad Alam 22; Khurram Shehzad 5-57, Abdur Rehman 4-40) and 380-5 declared in 97 overs (Fawad Alam 85 not out, Umar Amin 77, Aamir Yamin 74 not out, Adil Amin 61, Sami Aslam 54; Umar Gul 2-68); HBL 274 in 85.1 overs (Zohaib Khan 65, Imran Farhat 44, Umar Akmal 32, Abdur Rehman 29, Ramiz Aziz 26, Umar Gul 25, Saad Khan 22; Mohammad Amir 5-44, Kashif Bhatti 3-66, Usman Khan Shinwari 2-51) and 12-2 in 8 overs.

At Southend Club, Karachi: PESHAWAR 311 in 98.3 overs (Akbar Badshah 84, Israrullah 80, Nabi Gul 43, Mohammad Mohsin Khan 24, Sahibzada Farhan 23, Gohar Ali 20; Mohammad Sami 4-75, Faraz Ahmed Khan 3-70, Abdullah Mukaddam 3-84) and 212-6 in 62 overs (Nabi Gul 62, Akbar Badshah 42, Sahibzada Farhan 41; Waleed Ahmed 4-61, Mohammad Sami 2-26); KARACHI WHITES 338 in 106.3 overs (Anwar Ali 81 not out, Khurram Manzoor 80, Omair Bin Yousuf 61, Kashif Iqbal 27; Sajid Khan 3-70, Akmal Khan Durrani 2-73, Mohammad Ilyas 2-97).

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2018

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