KARACHI, Aug 21: National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), inspired by another sparkling knock from Nasir Jamshed, became the winners of the 1st Cool & Cool Corporate T20 Night Cup after defeating Port Qasim Authority (PQA) in the final at the DHA Sports Club (Moin Khan Academy) in the wee hours of Sunday.

Nasir followed by brilliant 93 against Habib Bank in the semi-final some 24 hours ago, smashed 68 as NBP overhauled PQA’s tally of 152-9 with five deliveries to spare to wind up the 15-day extravaganza purely organised for the departmental outfits by former Pakistan captain Moin Khan.

The left-handed opening batsman played authentic cricketing strokes to adorn his 37-ball innings with seven fours and three sixes. Such was Nasir’s confidence and dominance that it was inevitable NBP became deserving champions under the able leadership of the experienced campaigner Kamran Akmal.

Nasir, who fell to off-spinner Tabish Nawab, was not only declared the Man-of-the-Match, but also the Player-of-the-Tournament for which he was honoured with a motorcycle sponsored by Candyland.

Thanks to Nasir’s superb display, NBP hardly found themselves in real bother, although Tabish dismissed Umar Amin and Hammad Azam in the same over on his way to impressive figures of four for 23. But Aqeel Anjum ended PQA’s brief hope with 17-ball 26 (three boundaries and a six) to finish off the game.

Khurram Manzoor (26 off 25 balls, four fours) had earlier provided the launching pad for the bankers as he and Nasir added 65 for the opening wicket. Kamran also played his part with a 30-ball 23.

PQA, who opted to bat first in front of a packed audience, made a decent start as Shahzaib Hasan (29 off 21 balls, five fours) and skipper Khalid Latif (28 from 20, two fours and a six) put on 54 for the first wicket. And despite useful contributions from Tahir Mughal (25 from 18, four boundaries) and ex-Test player Shadab Kabir (24 off 22, three fours, PQA found it hard to penetrate the NBP tight bowling.

Mohammad Waqas late hitting (19 from 12 balls) ensured a fighting total, but it was still not enough to defend against a well-knit NBP side.

Former Pakistan captain and batting legend Javed Miandad, the PCB director general who was the chief guest, awarded the winners trophy and the champions’ purse of Rs500,000 to Kamran Akmal. He was accompanied on the podium by Arif Pardesi the chief executive of Cool & Cool the tournament’s title sponsor.

Miandad appreciated Moin for organising such a competition and hoped the PCB would do the same for the departments who had played a pivotal role in providing Pakistan with world-class cricketers.