KARACHI: Zubair Khan marked his second appearance in the shortest format with a fine century which propelled Quetta Bears to a big 10-wicket win over Larkana Bulls in the opening game of the second day of the Al Baraka presents Haier T20 Cup on Thursday.

The left-handed opener settled the result in 19 overs by finishing on 111 out of a total of 165-0. Skipper Bismillah Khan remained unbeaten on 52 in the one-side Group ‘A’ tie at the National Stadium.

Both were fortunate to be given lives as the butter-fingered Bulls floored no less than five possible chances. But nonetheless it was quite an achievement for the two unsung cricketers from one of the tournament’s minnows.

Zubair, who had most of the strike, cashed in to slam 15 boundaries and one six during his 77-ball contribution that won the man-of-the-match. Bismillah adorned his 37-ball innings with three fours and one six.

Their partnership was just three short of equalling the national T20 record for the first wicket held by Lahore Eagles’ Imran Farhat and Taufiq Umar who put on 168 against Hyderabad Hawks at Lahore in December 2012.

Earlier the Bulls could have got more than 164-6 had slow left-armer Ghulam Mohammad peg them back with four wickets in quick successions after Ahsan Ali and Asif Babar had themselves shared a century stand when Bears opted to field first.

Both openers scored 63 apiece while adding 116 in the first 14 overs. Ahsan hit six fours and one six in his 48-ball innings, while Asif laced his 42-ball knock with four sixes and six fours.

Ghulam finished with four for 25 in four overs.

Scoreboard

LARKANA BULLS:

Ahsan Ali c Arun Lal b Ghulam 63Asif Babar c Nazar b Ghulam 63Shabbir Solangi c Umar b Ghulam 12Ghulam Yasin b Jalat 2Mohammad Urs c Nazar b Mohibullah 5Zafar Katpar b Ghulam 0Nooruddin not out 16Mohammad Siddique not out 2 EXTRAS (LB-1) 1

TOTAL (for six wkts, 20 overs) 164

FALL OF WKTS: 1-116, 2-132, 3-140, 4-144, 5-144, 6-148.

DID NOT BAT: Zahid Mahmood, Imtiaz Leghari, Imran Chandio.

BOWLING: Nazar Hussain 4-0-35-0; Gohar Faiz 3-0-28-0; Arun Lal 2-0-25-0; Jalat Khan 4-0-23-1; Mohibullah 3-0-27-1; Ghulam Mohammad 4-0-25-4.

QUETTA BEARS:

Bismillah Khan not out 52Zubair Khan not out 111EXTRAS (LB-1, W-1) 2

TOTAL (for no wkt, 19 overs) 165

DID NOT BAT: Shahzad Tareen, Taimur Khan, Umar Qasim, Gohar Faiz, Mohibullah, Arun Lal, Jalat Khan, Ghulam Mohammad, Nazar Hussain.

BOWLING: Ghulam Yasin 3-0-27-0; Mohammad Siddique 3-0-24-0; Zahid Mahmood 4-0-33-0; Mohammad Urs 4-0-31-0 (1w); Imran Chandio 3-0-27-0; Imtiaz Leghari 2-0-22-0.

RESULT: Zubair Ahmed.

UMPIRES: Tahir Hussain, Nadeem Iqbal.

TV UMPIRE: Zameer Haider.

MATCH REFEREE: Jamshed Hussain.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Zubair Ahmed.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2014