KARACHI: Habib Bank Limited earned three crucial points after a tenacious display from Imran Farhat held off Sui Southern Gas Company Limited’s victory bid in their second-round Super Eight fixture in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship here on Friday.

Peshawar, meanwhile, also put themselves very much in the race for the Dec 4-8 title-decider from Group-I after completing a come-from-behind win against Karachi Whites by 81 runs at the Southend Club that secured them six points, three behind SSGCL with HBL in the lead with 12.

The primary focus was, however, at the UBL Sports Complex where an outright result in favour of either HBL or SSGCL would have catapulted one of them directly into the final. From HBL’s perspective a draw was the chief objective since chasing the remaining 304 runs on a last-day pitch would have been quite tricky. Their main hope for victory at the start of play was Umar Akmal. But once he perished for a 90-ball 34 after failing to check a drive on the up and was gobbled by Yorkshire off-spinner Azeem Rafiq on his own bowling.

The departure of Umar at that stage necessitated shelving the all-attack plan altogether to a conservative approach that was admirably executed by the skipper himself. Imran, the ex-Pakistan left-hander, foiled all attempts by Mohammad Amir and Usman Khan Shinwari to break his concentration.

Time and again, Imran kept his eyes firmly on the task on hand by occupying the crease for 229 minutes to make a patient 77 after Shinwari had spectacularly sent flying the middle stump of opener Jamal Anwar early in the morning to leave HBL in dire straits at 24-3.

Imran was finally dislodged after the extended first period when he played back to spinner Kashif Bhatti and edged a catch his opposite number Umar Amin after having adorned his splendid knock with 13 boundaries.

HBL’s other unsung hero was Zohaib Khan. The 32-year-old right-hander kept SSGCL bowlers at bay for as many as 198 minutes before returning undefeated on a 159-ball 36.

Having taken one wicket each on Thursday evening, both Amir and Shinwari added just one more to their tally. The bulk of bowling was done by Kashif who toiled through 33.4 overs for the wicket of Imran before umpires Imtiaz Iqbal and Ahmed Shahab decided enough was enough and called off play after five of the mandatory overs had passed after consulting both teams.

Peshawar turned the tables on Karachi Whites when they dismissed the latter for 168 after off-spinner Waleed Ahmed had grabbed 6-85 to help his bowled the visitors for 276.

In the last round of matches starting on Monday, HBL play Peshawar at the UBL Sports Complex, while SSGCL face Karachi Whites at the Southend Club. In Group-I action holders Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) meet Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) at the SBP Sports Complex and last season’s runners-up Wapda take on Lahore Blues at the NBP Sports Complex.

Scores and results on Friday (final day of four):

Super Eight stage, second round:

Group-II:

At UBL Sports Complex, Karachi: Match drawn.

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 199-6 in 88.4 overs (Imran Farhat 77, Zohaib Khan 36 not out, Umar Akmal 34; Mohammad Amir 2-34, Usman Khan Shinwari 2-35).

At Southend Club, Karachi: Peshawar beat Karachi Whites by 81 runs.

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 276 in 84.1 overs (Nabi Gul 62, Sajid Khan 53, Akbar Badshah 42, Sahibzada Farhan 41, Israrullah 26; Waleed Ahmed 6-85, 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) and 168 in 59 overs (Mohammad Hasan 63, Khurram Manzoor 21, Shehzar Mohammad 20; Zahid Mahmood 3-54, Mohammad Mohsin Khan 2-22, Akmal Khan Durrani 2-23, Mohammad Ilyas 2-27).

Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2018