LAHORE: Balochistan just cannot find ways to wriggle out of tough situations.

There were closing in on victory here on Saturday night but shoddy fielding dented their aspirations of a possible semi-final spot in the National T20 Cup at the Gaddafi Stadium.

Northern, on the other hand, confirmed their qualification to the knockout phase when the veteran Sohail Tan­vir pushed them over the lines by hoisting the game’s penultimate ball straight beyond the midwicket boundary to steer them home by five wickets.

Victory number six was initially set up by the second-wic­ket partnership of 88 between Ali Imran and Zeeshan Malik with both striking excellent half-centuries, after Nasir Nawaz (30 off 21 balls, three fours and one six) had added 60 for the opening stand alongside Ali.

A late inductee to the playing XI, the 23-year-old Ali duly produced a second successive half-century by carving his way to a 45-ball 64, featuring five sixes and one four.

Zeeshan almost matched his partner by hammering six boundaries and a brace of sixes in making 53 from 35 deliveries.

Despite being lethargic in the field with a couple of catches being grassed, Baloch­is­tan were very much in contention after Ali and Zeeshan had left the scene.

When the long-discarded Pakistan pacer Junaid Khan began the last over of the night, Northern were still far away with 15 more to get. But the left-armer was collared by Sohail. Appearing for the 369th time in the T20 format, the 36-year-old proved that an experienced head matters when the going gets tough.

Earlier, the sparse turnout at the Gaddafi Stadium was entertained by a brilliant performance from Abdullah Sha­fiq. Rated very highly by many, the 21-year-old from Sialkot — who is on loan to bolster an otherwise weak team — crashed a dozen fours and one six to hit up 73 off just 44 balls.

But Abdullah’s heroics went in waste as Balochistan only managed 185-7 in their allotm­ent of overs. Skipper Imam-ul-Haq contributed a 39-ball 50 with the aid of seven boun­da­ries but the rest disappointed.

Emerging seamer Zaman Khan was the standout North­ern performer with figures of 3-31. While Northern put up a splendid all-round team effort after losing no less than six first-choice players for Pakis­tan’s Twenty20 World Cup duty, Balochistan’s desp­e­rat­ion was obvious. The latest fai­lure in their bid to gate-crash into the last four left Imam co­mpletely shattered as the captained marched off the field in utter disgust.

Scoreboard

BALOCHISTAN:

Abdullah Shafiq c Ali Imran b Aamir 73

Abdul W. Bangalzai b Nauman 4

Imam-ul-Haq c Umar b Zaman 50

Sohail Akhtar c Zaman b Sohail 16

Amad Butt b Zaman 4

Haris Sohail c Aamir b Musa 1

Umaid Asif b Zaman 17

Kashif Bhatti not out 9

Najeebullah Achakzai not out 1

EXTRAS (LB-2, W-7, NB-1) 10

TOTAL (for seven wkts, 20 overs) 185

FALL OF WKTS: 1-51, 2-114, 3-150, 4-151, 5-156, 6-175, 7-183.

DID NOT BAT: Hidayatullah, Junaid Khan.

BOWLING: Sohail Tanvir 4-0-48-1 (1w); Zaman Khan 4-0-31-3 (1nb, 3w); Mohammad Musa Khan 3-0-31-1; Nauman Ali 4-0-28-1; Mubasir Khan 2-0-15-0; Aamir Jamal 3-0-30-1 (3w).

NORTHERN:

Nasir Nawaz c Amad b Kashif 30

Ali Imran c Sohail Akhtar b Umaid 64

Zeeshan Malik c Imam b Amad 53

Aamir Jamal c Amad b Umaid 13

Umar Amin c Imam b Amad 1

Rohail Nazir not out 10

Sohail Tanvir not out 10

EXTRAS (W-4, NB-1) 5

TOTAL (for five wkts, 19.5 overs) 186

FALL OF WKTS: 1-60, 2-148, 3-156, 4-166, 5-171.

DID NOT BAT: Mubasir Khan, Nauman Ali, Mohammad Musa Khan, Zaman Khan.

BOWLING: Junaid Khan 3.5-0-44-0 (2w); Najeebullah Achakzai 2-0-27-0 (1nb); Kashif Bhatti 4-0-24-1; Umaid Asif 4-0-31-2 (1w); Haris Sohail 3-0-25-0; Amad Butt 3-0-35-2 (1w).

RESULT: Northern won by five wickets.

UMPIRES: Shozab Raza and Faisal Afridi.

TV UMPIRE: Rashid Riaz.

MATCH REFEREE: Ali Naqvi.

PLAYER-OF THE-MATCH: Ali Imran (Northern).

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2021