KARACHI, Sept 20 Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) clinched the fifth AKU Sports Centre Twenty20 Ramazan Colour-kit cricket title with a six-wicket defeat of AKU Staff in the final played at the AKU Ground here on Saturday.
AKU Staff's second defeat - their only losses in the tournament - in three days against the same opponents overshadowed another captain's innings from Adnan Jaffri. He made an invaluable 66 off 42 balls with four sixes and five sixes as the AKU Staff reached 165 for seven after winning the toss. Mansoor Alam scored an unbeaten 38 ff 26 deliveries with three massive hits over the fence.
Slow left-armer Shiraz Ahmed (2-21) and pacer Raheel Sayani (2-36) shared the bowling honours.
RS chased down the required target in 19.3 overs for the loss of four wickets. Man-of-the-match Salman Hafeez struck five boundaries in making 41 of 29 balls at the start of the innings, Raheel Waris 35 off 19 deliveries (two fours) and skipper Aziz Zuberi 25 (17 balls, three fours and one six).
Usman Farhat of Dubai Islamic Bank was the double league tournament's most outstanding batsman. The talented left-handed opening batsman amassed a staggering tally of 670 runs with three brilliant centuries and also chipped in with eight wickets. Adnan Khan of RBS won the best bowler award for claiming 15 wickets.
Dr Sohail Qureshi, Professor at Biological and Biomedical Sciences of the Aga Khan University Hospital who graced the final as the chief guest, distributed prizes among players and the teams. Also present was Riaz Akbar Contractor, the chief organiser of the tournament.
Summarised scores
AKU STAFF 165-7 in 20 overs (Adnan Jaffri 66, Mansoor Alam 38 not out; Shiraz Ahmed 2-21, Raheel Waris 2-36); ROYAL BANK OF SCOTLAND 166-4 in 19.3 overs (Salman Hafeez 41, Raheel Waris 35, Aziz Zuberi 25; Shiraz Ishaq 2-27).
