KARACHI: The Karachi-based teams Greens and Blues emerged winners on Friday as the unstoppable Ali Naqi yet again stole the limelight in the fifth Sindh High Court Inter-judicial T20 Cricket Tournament at the Quaid-e-Azam Park in the Steel Township.

Opener Naqi notched up fourth 50-plus score in the competition as Sindh High Court Greens defeated Larkana High Court by seven wickets.

Chasing 164, SHC Greens reached the target with three deliveries to spare as Naqi contributed 63 from 46 balls, while dominating the first-wicket partnership of 93 with Farhan Khan (37 off 44 balls).

Earlier, Larkana High Court were restricted to 163-7 in the stipulated 20 overs. Hafiz Saleem was the chief run-getter with a 37-ball knock of 43.

Seamer Asghar Raza grabbed three wickets for 20 runs in his four overs while off-spinner Naqi claimed 3-33 in four overs as well. In the day’s second fixture, young opening batsman Uzair Jafri excelled with a brilliant innings of 113 from just 60 deliveries but his heroic were not enough for Hyderabad High Court to escape an eight-wicket drubbing against Sindh High Court Blues.

Paceman Manzoor Maqsood picked up four wickets for 45 runs and slow left-armer Haroon Marwat 3-32 as Hyderabad High Court were all out in 19 overs for 164, with no one else even reaching double figures.

Sindh High Court Blues raced to 166-2 in the run chase in only 15 overs with Manzoor playing a hurricane innings of 97 off just 48 balls. He put on 76 for the opening stand with Rizwan Rasool (25).

Summarised scores:

Sindh High Court Blues beat Hyderabad High Court by eight wickets.

HYDERABAD HIGH COURT 164 in 19 overs (Uzair Jafri 113; Manzoor Maqsood 4-45, Haroon Marwat 3-32); SINDH HIGH COURT BLUES 166-2 in 15 overs (Manzoor Maqsood 87 not out, Rizwan Rasool 25).

Sindh High Court Greens beat Larkana High Court by seven wickets.

LARKANA HIGH COURT 163-7 in 20 overs (Hafiz Saleem 43, Tahir Ansari 25; Asghar Raza 3-20, Ali Naqi 3-33); SINDH HIGH COURT GREENS 164-3 in 19.3 overs (Ali Naqi 63, Farhan Khan 37, Vinod Ramesh 25).

Published in Dawn, January 5th, 2020