KARACHI, Aug 18: Danish Kaneria continued his dream run at the Twenty20 level when he engineered a crushing nine-wicket victory for Dollar East XI in the 1st Vital Five Club Ramazan Cricket Festival for the State Life Trophy at the Vital Five Ground here on Thursday.

The Pakistan leg-spinner, who is currently embroiled in a legal battle with the Pakistan Cricket Board in a desperate bid to revive his international career, tormented the Asifabad Sports’ later-order batsmen with amazing figures of four wickets for nine runs in four overs.

Kaneria’s mesmerising spell saw Asifabad Sports succumb inside 16 overs for just 70 in the Group ‘B’ tie. Skipper Jawwad Ali fought a lone fight with an undefeated 34 off 32 balls (two fours and a six), while Hameed Baloch (22 off 24, two sixes and a four) was the only other man to enter double figures.

Salman Qadir, son of leg-spin legend Abdul Qadir, proved ideal foil for the Wallstreet Man-of-the-Match Kaneria, with three for 18 with his part-time off-spinners. Slow left-armer Noor-ul-Amin took 2-4 in two overs.

The stage was then set for Shahzaib Hasan, the ex-Pakistan T20 opener, to blast his way to a remarkable 56 off mere 15 deliveries as Dollar East required just four overs to achieve victory. Shahzaib’s thundering knock featured five sixes and as many fours and such was his dominance that his partner Mohammad Aslam remained scoreless in the opening stand of 56.

Kaneria, promoted in the order, slapped three boundaries after Shahzaib was dismissed while Aslam’s two-ball innings contained one scoring shot – a six.

Summarised scores: ASIFABAD SPORTS 70 in 15.5 overs (Jawwad Ali 34 not out, Hameed Baloch 22; Danish Kaneria 4-9, Salman Qadir 3-18, Noor-ul-Amin 2-4); DOLLAR EAST XI 74-1 in 4 overs (Shahzaib Hasan 56; Danish Kaneria 12 not out).

Friday’s fixture: A.O. CC v Fazal-ur-Rehman Sports (Group ‘B’).