KARACHI, Sept 20: Opener Usman Farhat missed a hundred by mere five runs but his superb knock failed to save the Dubai Islamic Bank from a two-wicket defeat at the hands of Advance Telecom in the AKU Twenty20 Ramazan cricket tournament at the AKU Ground on Friday.

Usman cracked 95 off 69 balls with nine boundaries and three sixes while Shoaib Akhtar scored an unbeaten 36 with three fours and brace of sixes as Dubai Islamic Bank, batting first, mustered 179-6 in the allotted 20 overs.

Advance Telecom, in reply, reached the target with four balls to spare. Khurram Izhar set the tone for the victory with a swashbuckling knock of 68 in 27 deliveries, hoisting seven sixes and two boundaries.

Summarised scores:

DUBAI ISLAMIC BANK 179-6 in 20 overs (Usman Farhat 95, Shoaib Akhtar 36 not out; Noman Sheikh 2-30, Mohammad Reza 2-41); ADVANCE TELECOM 181-8 in 19.2 overs (Khurram Izhar 68, Fahim Sheikh 26; Asif Siddiqui 2-22, Ahmed Farooqi 2-32, Ibrahim Akhtar 2-36, Usman Farhat 2-40).—APP