KARACHI: Unless something sensational happens during the course of the President’s Trophy final, the Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) are red-hot favourites to retain their crown when they face the United Bank Limited (UBL) in the five-day title-decider in Multan from Wednesday.

This fixture was originally scheduled to be played in the first week of February but was put on hold to accommodate the Faysal Bank T20 Cup for regions that was staged in Rawalpindi last month.

Because of the rescheduling, the likes of Mohammad Hafeez, Umar Akmal and Bilawal Bhatti won’t be seen in action in the final since all of them are part of the Pakistan squad for the ICC World Twenty20 in Bangladesh.

But despite being depleted SNGPL still do have enough firepower to get the better of UBL, who are clearly the underdogs despite finishing the league phase of the first-class competition at the top of the standings.

In what has been a fairytale season for them, UBL have at least proved that they had the potential to slay star-studded teams as they won seven of the 10 fixtures, including the last six on the trot.

Their only losses were against the SNGPL and the National Bank of Pakistan in the first half of the championship.

The defeat against the SNGPL at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad last November was heartbreaking after they had done the hard work to concede a 62-run lead on the first innings. Chasing 333, UBL capitulated against the pace of Bilawal Bhatti (5-13 in 7.5 overs) for a paltry 95 to suffer a 237-run drubbing.

“It was [defeat against SNGPL] a chastening experience for our players. It taught us never to take any match lightly.

It was a harsh lesson well learnt because after that game we lost just one more game and won six in succession,” UBL head coach Masood Anwaar told Dawn from Multan on Tuesday.

“And this being the final, we have been training extensively for the past several days to ensure the boys are charged up for the big occasion for them since most of them have never played in a first-class final.”

Masood predicted a ‘tough’ contest on a Multan Cricket Stadium pitch ideal for a five-day game. “Probably we may bat first if the toss goes our way. The track looks pretty good and the weather also has become quite pleasant now although it rained yesterday [Monday].”

UBL may be lacking players with international recognition but Abid Ali and captain Atif Maqbool have been the driving force behind the team’s success.

Abid, a compact 26-year-old opening batsman, has been the leading run-getter in the tournament with 795 runs with three centuries including a career-best 205 not out against the Habib Bank Limited (HBL) at Islamabad’s Marghazar Cricket Ground.

Atif, aged 32 and touted by some as a possible successor to ace Pakistan off-spinner Saeed Ajmal, has snared most wickets (53 in nine matches at 16.25) in the championship with six five-for and two hauls of 10 or more wickets in a match.

Pakistan Test and ODI captain Misbah-ul-Haq, who is the regular SNGPL skipper, was due to arrive in Multan late on Tuesday to participate in the final.

Apart from Misbah, SNGPL’s other players who have had played for Pakistan are Azhar Ali, Taufiq Umar, Adnan Akmal, Yasir Shah, Asad Ali and Samiullah Khan Niazi.

SNGPL head coach Basit Ali, like Masood a former Test player, said his team won’t be taking UBL lightly despite the star-studded status the reigning champions held.

“Our endeavour would be to retain the title with a good performance. In cricket, one can’t predict the outcome and UBL have shown this season that they are a good side who play within their limits,” Basit said.

“We cannot afford to get complacent. The only disadvantage, if any, was almost throughout the season we didn’t have services of our first-choice players either because of national duty or injuries.

“Even then we managed to get this far and reach the final. The presence of Misbah is obviously a big plus for us considering his standing as a quality cricketer.

The great virtue about him [Misbah] is that whenever is free from international duty, he makes himself available for the domestic matches,” he added.

Out of the total prize money of Rs4.5 million, the winners would get Rs2.5 million and the runners-up Rs1.5 million.

The final would be beamed live on PTV Sports.

Teams (from):

SNGPL: Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Taufiq Umar, Azeem Ghumman, Azhar Ali, Ali Waqas, Khurram Shehzad, Mohammad Rizwan, Adnan Akmal, Yasir Shah, Asad Ali, Imran Ali, Samiullah Khan Niazi, Naeemuddin, Hussain Talat, Imran Khalid.

UBL: Atif Maqbool (captain), Abid Ali, Bismillah Khan, Ali Asad, Saad Sukhail, Saeed bin Nasir, Mohammad Wajihuddin, Tariq Haroon, Hafiz Mohammad Zohaib, Kashif Bhatti, Rumman Raees Khan, Mohammad Irshad, Prince Abbas, Khaqan Arsal, Ahsan Ali.

Umpires: Ahsan Raza and Shozab Raza.

TV umpire: Ahmed Shahab.

Fourth umpire: Asif Yaqoob.

Match referee: Musaddeq Rasool Khan.

Official scorer: Mohammad Akbar.