KARACHI: Karachi and Abbottabad stormed into the the final of the NBP T-20 Blind Cricket Trophy Grade-2 here on Thursday after thrilling wins in the semis.

In the first semifinal, played at Afza Cricket Ground, Karachi beat Multan in a nail-biter by just one run.

Multan won the toss and put Karachi in to bat. Waliullah and Shahzad Iqbal played superbly to score 53 nd 45 respectively, putting up a total of 242 for the loss of 6 in 20 overs. Muhammad Shahbaz and Muhammad Safdar grabbed a wicket apiece. In reply, Multan’s openers Ghulam Akbar and Muhammad Safdar started their innings well, smashing the Karachi bowlers all over the ground scoring 14 runs per over in the first 10 overs.

However, then Karachi made a comeback when they got the wicket of Muhammad Safdar stumped by Shahzad Iqbal on 78. Tahir Ali took a sharp catch of Ghulam Akbar and brought Karachi close to victory. In the end, Multan fell just one run short of the target. Abdul Wahab bagged two wickets while Tariq Samuel and Muhammad Usman claimed a wicket each. Shahzad Iqbal was named Man of the Match.

The second semifinal also proved a thrilleer between Abbottabad and Quetta played at Afza Cricket Ground. Quetta put Abbottabad in to bat first after winning the toss. Abbottabad’s Riasat Khan and Naeemullah put on a record 199 for the first wicket. Riasat fell just eight short of short of a brilliant hundred, scoring 92 off just 35 balls.

Naeemullah, however, stood firm and dazzled with anunbeaten 131, hitting 15 boundaries and taking the score to 276 for the loss of 4 wickets.

Quetta in reply played well but fell just seven runs short of the target to finish at 269-5. Naseebullah’s fantastic knock of 149 couldn’t take his team over the line. His innings contained 24 boundaries. Muhammad Adeel and Riasat Khan took one wicket each.

Karachi will take on Abbottabad tomorrow in the final at T.M.C Cricket Ground, Gulberg Karachi.

Published in Dawn, February 12th, 2021