KARACHI, Sept 20 An unbroken century stand between Waqas Haroon and Mohammad Farrukh inspired Ali Sports to a seven-wicket win over dethroned champions KESC in the 22nd Aga Khan Gymkhana State Life Ramazan Festival Twenty20 cricket tournament final at the AKG Ground here on Saturday.
Waqas hit 78 and Farrukh 54 in the fourth-wicket partnership yielding 127 as Ali Sports avenged their defeat against KESC in the final of another tournament just a day ago. Chasing 177, Ali Sports sealed the title with three deliveries with Waqas hammering no less than nine sixes and one four in his 43-ball knock that earned the Rs3,000 man-of-the-match award. Farrukh's 35-ball innings contained four fours and a brace of six.
KESC skipper Javed Mansoor top-scored for his side with 54 (42 balls, four fours and two sixes). Arif Mahmood (38 off 22 balls, three sixes and one six), Sarfraz Ahmed (35 off 25 balls, two sixes and two fours) in a first-wicket partnership of 75 with Javed and Akbar-ur-Rehman (31 off 33 balls, two boundaries) all made useful contributions to guide their team to 176-4 after winning the toss.
Ali Sports' success was more praiseworthy since they were forced to play their semi-final earlier on Saturday in which they overpowered Mohammad Hussain CC by 28 runs with man-of-the-match Riaz Mirani striking 88 off 55 balls with five sixes and one four in a total of 195-4.
Fahad Iqbal, younger brother of Pakistan star Faisal who skipped the match due to personal reasons, picked up three wickets for 23 in four overs of occasional off-spin bowling.
Mohammad Hussain CC, in reply, made 167-9 with captain Mohammad Sami, the ex-Pakistan fast bowler, contributing 66 off 43 balls (four fours and two sixes) and Shahzeb Hasan blasting four sixes in a 12-ball 31.
Haroon brothers - Waqas and Tariq - captured five wickets between them while Farrukh's off-spinning deliveries earned him three for 35.
After the final, Shahid Aziz Siddiqui, chairman of State Life Insurance Corporation, was the chief guest at the prize-distribution ceremony where he was accompanied by Aga Khan Gymkhana chairman Hakim Ali Khan, the club's cricket convener Zulfiqar P. Khan and Faisal Mahmood, the chief executive of Sana Travel Private Limited.
Ali Sports skipper Mohammad Ali received the glittering champions' trophy and cash award of Rs100,000 on behalf of his team, while KESC captain Javed Mansoor collected the runners-up trophy and Rs50,000.
Among individual prizes, Arif Mahmood of KESC was adjudged the recipient of Rs7,000 player-of-the-tournament award for scoring 114 runs and taking eight wickets. Farhan Iqbal of Chiniot CC and Aga Khan Gymkhana's Sikander Khan won the Rs4,000 worth best batsman and bowler prizes for scoring 211 runs and taking 15 wickets, respectively. AKG's Mir Afzal Baig won the best wicket-keeper award for 10 dismissals (six catches/four stumpings) while the best fielder prize was shared by Javed Mansoor and the host club's Saleem A. Rahim for holding catches apiece.
Summarised scores
Ali Sports beat Mohammad Hussain CC by 28 runs (semi-final)
ALI SPORTS 195-4 in 20 overs (Riaz Mirani 88, Faisal Athar 38, Faisal Mirza 27, Waqas Haroon 19; Fahad Iqbal 3-23); MOHAMMAD HUSSAIN CC 167-9 in 20 overs (Mohammad Sami 66, Shahzeb Hasan 31, Mohsin Sultan 22; Waqas Haroon 3-28, Mohammad Farrukh 3-35, Tariq Haroon 2-31).
Ali Sports beat KESC by seven wickets (final)
KESC 176-4 in 20 overs (Javed Mansoor 54, Arif Mahmood 38, Sarfraz Ahmed 35, Akbar-ur-Rehman 31); ALI SPORTS 177-3 in 19.3 overs (Waqas Haroon 78 not out, Mohammad Farrukh 54 not out, Faisal Athar 23, Riaz Mirani 18; Rizwan Khan 2-27).
