KARACHI: Balochistan missed a golden chance to clinch their maiden Pakistan Cup on Friday night as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa engineered a brilliant comeback at the Pindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi to lift the coveted one-day trophy for the second time in four seasons.

Winners of the inaugural event at the same venue in 2016, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa emerged victorious by a slender margin of eight runs on the back of magnificent bowling by the trio of Sohail Khan, Umaid Asif and Wahab Riaz in death overs after Balochistan set up a wonderful platform through Awais Zia’s 94-ball 83 (10 boundaries) and skipper Asad Shafiq’s 45-ball 48 (seven fours).

But the experienced pace trio employed astutely by Salman Butt derailed the chase so badly that Balochistan panicked. Fawad Alam found it increasingly hard to generate big hits when it mattered as the former Pakistan left-hander huffed and puffed to a 61-ball 48 with two fours, while Balochistan only reached 299-9 in pursuit of the 308-run target.

Sohail and Wahab — the two men who had proved decisive with the bat earlier in the day with a breathtaking display of power-hitting — bagged three and one wickets, respectively in those crunch moments while Umaid chipped in one to go with the scalp of Awais.

Sohail was later adjudged man-of-the-match for his all-round contributions while Wahab shared the best bowler award with Amad Butt. Umar Akmal, who scored only 23 in the final, grabbed the best batsman prize while Sindh’s Hammad Azam bagged the best all-rounder award.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were richer by the winners’ cash award of Rs2 million along with the glittering trophy while Balochistan settled for the runners-up share of Rs1 million.

Earlier, the 31-year-old Abid considerably strengthened his chances of making the Pakistan squad for the ICC World Cup with a century of great substance. Without any shadow of doubt, the right-hander’s 119-ball 132 was the main highlight of the first half as he cut, drove and pulled with authority.

After opting to bat first, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa suffered an early reversal when a quick delivery from Haris Rauf saw Salman, who made just two, edged a simple catch to wicket-keeper Bismillah Khan.

Abid and Mohammad Saad, however, rectified the situation with an excellent partnership of 136 before Saad thick-edged a drive against upcoming all-rounder Ali Imran and was caught behind for 51 in a 61-ball knock containing five fours and one six.

The only time Abid looked in trouble was on 30 when he played back to an arm ball from rising slow left-armer Umar Khan but completely missed the line. Umpire Ahsan Raza was spot on in deciding the delivery was going over the stumps when confronted by vociferous LBW shout from both the bowler and wicket-keeper.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa lost their way bit after Saad departed as Adil Amin (1) and Khushdil Shah, on whom much depended after his heroics in previous games, were dismissed. Khushdil (2) flicked a straight catch to Umar Akmal at short fine leg after Adil top-edged a sweep against Umar Khan.

Zohaib Khan (27 off 36 balls, two boundaries) put on 42 with Abid before misjudging a slower one from Ali and offered Balochistan captain Asad Shafiq a high ball to hold onto.

Altogether Abid struck a dozen boundaries and hoisted three sixes — the last being a remarkable flick against former Pakistan speedster Mohammad Irfan which sailed behind the wicket-keeper and over the boundary until it was brilliantly ‘caught’ by a young ball-picker just in front of the sightscreen. Three balls earlier Abid had down the track to flat-bat the giant left-armer for another six over long on.

Abid perished when acceleration was required, bowled by an excellent yorker from Amad Butt, and Adnan Akmal (4) followed suit without any addition to the total, as the discarded Test wicket-keeper was cleaned up by Haris.

Wahab and Sohail then launched a perfect impetus by bludgeoning 69 runs from 40 balls in the death overs with Sohail using the long handle effectively to blast five sixes for a career-best 44 from just 20 deliveries, while Wahab scored a 21-ball 22.

Amad suffered most at the hands of Sohail and Wahab by being smashed for 22 runs in the last over.

Scoreboard

KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA:

Salman Butt c Bismillah b Haris 2 Abid Ali b Amad 132 Mohammad Saad c Bismillah b Ali 51
Adil Amin c Haris b Umar Khan 1 Khushdil Shah c Umar Akmal b Ali 2
Zohaib Khan c Asad b Ali 27 Adnan Akmal b Haris 14 Wahab Riaz not out 22 Sohail Khan not out 45 EXTRAS (LB-8, W-2, NB-1) 11
TOTAL (for seven wkts, 50 overs) 307
FALL OF WKTS: 1-3, 2-139, 3-148, 4-159, 5-201, 6-238, 7-238. DID NOT BAT: Umaid Asif, Mohammad Irfan Jr. BOWLING: Mohammad Irfan 8-0-47-0; Haris Rauf 10-2-41-2 (1w); Umar Khan 10-0-56-1; Ali Imran 10-0-48-3 (1nb); Amad Butt 10-0-89-1 (1w); Fawad Alam 2-0-18-0.

BALOCHISTAN:

Awais Zia c Wahab b Umaid 83 Zeeshan Ashraf b Irfan Jr 16 Asad Shafiq st Adnan b Zohaib 48
Umar Akmal c Sohail b Umaid 23
Fawad Alam c Adnan b Sohail 48
Ali Imran c Saad b Wahab 27
Bismillah Khan run out 20
Amad Butt c Khushdil b Sohail 11 Haris Rauf c sub b Sohail 8 Umar Khan not out 1 Mohammad Irfan not out 1 Extras (b-4, lb-3, w-5) 12
Total (for nine wkts, 50 overs) 299 FALL OF WKTS: 1-35, 2-127, 3-163, 4-183, 5-224, 6-268, 7-288, 8-296, 9-296.
BOWLING: Sohail Khan 10-0-75-3 (2w); Mohammad Irfan Jr 10-0-60-1 (1w); Umaid Asif 10-0-51-2 (1w); Wahab Riaz 10-1-36-1; Zohaib Khan 6-0-43-1 (1w); Khushdil Shah 4-0-26-0.
RESULT: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa won by eight runs.
UMPIRES: Ahsan Raza and Shozab Raza. TV UMPIRE: Asif Yaqoob. MATCH REFEREE: Mohammad Anees. MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Sohail Khan.

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2019