KARACHI: Unheralded Aftab Khan scored a superb century to help Habib Bank Limited end their 33-year long drought in the Faysal Bank Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship on Monday with a five-wicket victory over PIA in the Division One final at the National Stadium.
Aftab, who was batting on 63 in a total of 101-3 at stumps on Sunday after his side began their chase for 235 runs, duly reached three figures and was dismissed for 106 just before the first-ever day/night first-class final finished 45 minutes after the supper break on the fifth and last day.
Aftab’s sixth first-class century was a marathon 383-minute effort after the 26-year-old right-hander from Peshawar was sent in as opener on the fourth day in a shrewd tactical move which paid off handsomely in the end.
Aftab laced his Man-of-the-Match 230-ball knock with 14 boundaries. Paceman Fahad Masood, who made priceless contributions of 66 and 42 with the bat in this game, also played his role superbly as he and Aftab extended their overnight partnership to 88 before he was run out.
Skipper Hasan Raza, who was denied the chance to lift the trophy last season when Karachi Blues won the final at the same venue, batted in a carefree manner to strike eight fours in a run-a-ball 54 before Kamran Hussain hit the winning boundary to end the game which regrettably was ruined by unsporting behaviour of players, mostly from the losing side.
As a consequence, match referee Anwer Khan was unforgiving in handing maximum fines of Rs15,000 each on PIA skipper Kamran Sajid (for using abusive language) and his team-mates Fahad Iqbal (for bringing the game into disrepute upon his dismissal on the fourth day) and Najaf Shah (for tampering with the ball).
PIA were also heavily docked for slow over-rates and were penalised Rs75,000, while Habib Bank copped a fine Rs33,000 for the same offence.
But Habib Bank didn’t mind the fine as they were awarded the glittering trophy and prize money of Rs1 million as the champions despite being forced to field a depleted side in the absence of Pakistan stars Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi, Umar Gul, Taufiq Umar and Ahmed Shahzad all of whom are on national duty in New Zealand.
A downcast Kamran Sajid, who later conceded that Habib Bank deserve their victory, collected the runners-up cash award of Rs500,000.
Among individual prizes, Karachi Blues’ Rameez Raja won the best batsman award for his 801 runs in the tournament, Rawalpindi’s Sadaf Hussain (64 wickets) and Adnan Mufti (23 catches) won the bowler and fielder awards while Wapda’s Ahmed Said won the best wicket-keeper prize for his 50 dismissals (all catches).
Habib Bank’s only other triumph in the country’s coveted championship was in 1977-78 when under the leadership of Javed Miandad, one of the finest batsmen of his generation, they had the rare distinction of clinching three first-class trophies in the same season.
Scoreboard
PIA (1st Innings) 228 (Kamran Sajid 90, Shoaib Malik 39; Danish Kaneria 4-66).
HABIB BANK (1st Innings) 313 (Imran Farhat 109, Fahad Masood 66, Shan Masood 54, Hasan Raza 39, Aizaz Cheema 3-90).
PIA (2nd Innings) 313 (Fahad Iqbal 84, Kamran Sajid 70, Agha Sabir 35; Kamran Hussain 3-49, Fahad Masood 3-60, Danish Kaneria 3-114).
HABIB BANK (2nd Innings, overnight 101-3):
Shan Masood c Sarfraz b Anwar 7 Aftab Khan b Kamran 106 Imran Farhat c and b Kamran 3 Khaqan Arsal b Aizaz 7 Fahad Masood run out 42 Hasan Raza not out 50 Kamran Hussain not out 5
EXTRAS (B-5, LB-5, W-1, NB-1) 12 TOTAL (for five wkts, 78.1 overs) 236 FALL OF WKTS: 1-14, 2-41, 3-58, 4-146, 5-216. BOWLING: Anwar Ali 11-2-49-1; Aizaz Cheema 25-3-93-1 (1w); Kamran Sajid 7.5-3-23-2; Shoaib Malik 16.2-5-37-0; Najaf Shah 18-11-24-0 (1nb).
RESULT: Habib Bank won by five wickets. UMPIRES: Riazuddin and Zameer Haider. TV UMPIRE: Khalid Mahmood Sr. MATCH REFEREE: Anwer Khan. OFFICIAL SCORER: Syed Imran Ali. MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Aftab Khan.
