KARACHI: It was a tale of two individuals, both ironically having first name of Rameez, who hogged the limelight at the UBL Sports Complex where Habib Bank Limited (HBL) kept their Cool & Cool presents National One-day Cup semi-final aspirations alive with a nerve-wracking win over Karachi Whites here on Saturday.
With country’s top stars currently away in New Zealand and another bunch of 15 cricketers departing for Dubai on Saturday with the Pakistan ‘A’ squad for a five-match one-day series against England Lions, the lesser-known mortals on the domestic circuit got opportunities to press claims for future national teams’ call-ups with brilliant performances.
HBL’s fourth straight success in Group ‘B’ means they along with National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) and leaders Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) remain in contention for the knockout round with three tough rounds of fixtures against fellow departments to begin from Monday.
Wapda, the other departmental outfit in this pool, have already dropped a game against Karachi Whites and sealed an unconvincing five-wicket victory against Rawalpindi at the National Stadium in the fourth round.
Trendsetters KRL recorded their third 120-plus triumph with their latest victims to be thrashed being Lahore Whites who were annihilated by 152 runs at the NBP Sports Complex on Saturday.
NBP also ran out clinical winners against Fata by 132 runs at the Niaz Stadium in Hyderabad.
While there has been no real upset in Group ‘B’ apart from Wapda’s seven-wicket walloping by Karachi Whites, Group ‘A’ produced yet another shock result on Saturday when Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) succumbed to their second defeat in four matches as Islamabad sealed a four-wicket result in their favour at the Diamond Club Ground in Islamabad.
Port Qasim Authority, still smarting from two losses in three games, restored their pride to an extent by outgunning Lahore Blues at the Pindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi by 124 runs.
Group ‘A’ leaders United Bank Limited (UBL) encountered no such worries as experienced by both SNGPL and PQA when they handed Peshawar an eight-wicket drubbing at the Arbab Niaz Stadium in Peshawar.
But second-placed Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) survived a close call before grabbing a narrow 12-run win against Hyderabad at the Marghazar Cricket Ground in the federal capital.
Rameez Raja – an exact but unrelated namesake of former Pakistan captain who spells his first name as ‘Ramiz’ — dominated the first half of play as Karachi Whites reached 307-6 after being put into bat.
The 28-year-old right-hander, who figured in two T20 Internationals against Zimbabwe in 2011, hammered 118 from 115 balls with 12 boundaries and a six while sharing two productive partnerships. Rameez and Fahad Iqbal (46) added 99 for the second wicket before wicket-keeper Owais Ahmed Rehmani (unbeaten 78 off 68 balls, seven fours and two sixes) helped the opener put on 92 for the fifth wicket.
Faced with a stiff chase, HBL were down in the mire at 124-5 at the halfway point with skipper Imran Farhat (55 off 51 balls, four fours and two sixes) also gone.
But Karachi Whites found Rameez Aziz the real stumbling block from there onwards as the 25-year-old left-hander, who had played for Pakistan at the U-19 level, produced a stunning display of unorthodox strokes to snatch victory for HBL from the jaws of defeat.
Hasan Raza Jr, another left-hander, lent grand support to the well-set Rameez as the pair shared a sixth-wicket stand of 92 from 83 deliveries before Hasan was stumped for 36 off slow left-armer Faraz Ahmed Khan, who was easily the day’s standout performer with 3-36 in 10 overs.
With 41 needed from the final five overs, Karachi Whites were still in the game since eight wickets had already gone down. But Rameez was not giving up and effortlessly hoisted left-arm pacer Ghulam Mudassar for two back-to-back sixes in the 46th over.
Luck also deserted Karachi Whites since they had to do the bowling without the services of experienced all-rounder Babar Rehman who strained his back during early overs of the chase while fielding on the fence. His medium-pacers would have definitely made HBL’s task much more difficult. And then Rameez of the regional side reprieved his unrelated namesake when spilled a tough chance inside the long-off boundary off Adeel Malik before HBL’s Rameez struck successive offside boundaries in the last over to see his team over the line with three balls to spare.
Rameez Aziz’s career-best 122 off just 92 deliveries included 13 fours and three sixes.
Saturday’s other centuries were scored by NBP’s Hamza Paracha (139 off 183 balls, 18 fours and one six), PQA’s Khurram Manzoor (125 off 137, 14 fours and one six), SSGC’s Saeed bin Nasir (102 not out off 96 balls, seven boundaries).
SNGPL’s Imran Khalid hit his maiden List ‘A’ hundred as he made 108 (109 balls, 11 fours and one six) after his team had slumped to 36-6 in the 15th over.
Mohammad Qaddafi, a 21-year-old right-hander, made a startling beginning to his career in big time cricket by scoring 116 (123 balls, 11 fours and four sixes) in a losing cause for Hyderabad.
Saturday’s results:
Fourth round:
Group ‘A’:
At Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi: Port Qasim Authority bt Lahore Blues by 124 runs.
PORT QASIM AUTHORITY 320 in 49.2 overs (Khurram Manzoor 125, Khalid Latif 74, Shahzaib Hasan 51, Kamran Younis 33; Aizaz Cheema 3-58, Mohammad Saeed 2-47, Raza Ali Dar 2-61); LAHORE BLUES 196 in 49.1 overs (Raza Ali Dar 63 not out, Hafiz Salman 29, Tayyab Tahir 27, Mohammad Akhlaq 26; Azam Hussain 3-34, Zohaib Shera 2-44).
At Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad: Islamabad bt SNGPL by four wickets.
SNGPL 222 in 48.5 overs (Imran Khalid 108, Taimur Sultan 40; Hasan Ali 3-45, Shehzad Azam Rana 3-56, Abdul Majid 2-25); ISLAMABAD 225-6 in 46.1 overs (Shahid Yousuf 84, Sarmad Bhatti 40 not out, Zohaib Ahmed 36; Bilawal Bhatti 2-32, Khurram Shehzad 2-38).
At Marghazar Cricket Ground, Islamabad: SSGC bt Hyderabad by 12 runs.
SSGC 271 in 49.5 overs (Muzammil Nizam 85 not out, Wajid Ali 79, Awais Zia 30, Zeeshan Mushtaq 26, Mohammad Irfan 22; Kashif Bhatti 3-30); HYDERABAD 259 in 49.1 overs (Mohammad Qaddafi 116, Shoaib Leghari 53, Rizwan Ahmed 25; Adnan Ghaus 3-37, Sohail Khan 2-34, Tabish Khan 2-48).
At Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar: United Bank Limited bt Peshawar by eight wickets.
PESHAWAR 271 in 49.1 overs (Israrullah 100, Akbar Badshah 60, Ashfaq Ahmed 50, Musadiq Ahmed 43, Adil Amin 30; Karamat Ali 4-52, Rumman Raees Khan 3-35); UNITED BANK LIMITED 272-2 in 47 overs (Saeed bin Nasir 102 not out, Naved Sarwar 85 not out, Sharjeel Khan 43, Shan Masood 26).
Group ‘B’:
At UBL Sports Complex, Karachi: Habib Bank Limited bt Karachi Whites by two wickets.
KARACHI WHITES 307-6 in 50 overs (Rameez Raja 118, Owais Ahmed Rehmani 78 not out, Fahad Iqbal 46, Babar Rehman 21 not out; Ashiq Ali 3-49); HABIB BANK LIMITED 308-8 in 49.3 overs (Rameez Aziz 122 not out, Imran Farhat 55, Hasan Raza Jr 36; Faraz Ahmed Khan 3-36, Adeel Malik 2-45).
At National Stadium, Karachi: Wapda bt Rawalpindi by five wickets.
RAWALPINDI 166 in 43.1 overs (Naved Yasin 38, Naved Malik 28, Zain-ul-Abideen 26, Samiullah 22 not out; Khalid Usman 3-40, Naseer Akram 2-24, Zulfiqar Babar 2-33, Mohammad Asif 2-34); WAPDA 167-5 in 41.4 overs (Atiq-ur-Rehman 44, Bismillah Khan 36, Salman Butt 30, Ayaz Tasawwar 26 not out, Mohammad Saad 20; Faisal Iqbal 2-34).
At NBP Sports Complex, Karachi: Khan Research Laboratories bt Lahore Whites by 152 runs.
KHAN RESEARCH LABORATORIES 301-8 in 50 overs (Luqman Butt 79, Shoaib Ahmed Minhas 56, Saeed Anwar Jr 36 not out, Abdul Rehman Muzammil 32, Imam-ul-Haq 27, Mohammad Yasin 25; Asif Raza 4-45, Bilawal 2-48); LAHORE WHITES 149 in 36 overs (Mukhtar Ahmed 39, Jamil Khan 34 not out, Usman Salahuddin 23; Sadaf Hussain 3-32, Shoaib Ahmed Minhas 2-2, Saeed Anwar Jr 2-19, Majid Ali 2-39).
At Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad: National Bank of Pakistan bt Federally Administered Tribal Areas by 132 runs.
NATIONAL BANK OF PAKISTAN 354-6 in 50 overs (Hamza Paracha 139, Kamran Akmal 81, Akbar-ur-Rehman 55, Nasir Jamshed 50; Fawad Khan 2-47, Asif Afridi 2-56); FEDERALLY ADMINISTERED TRIBAL AREAS 222 in 48.3 overs (Haroon Sadaqat 63, Nisar Afridi 48, Mohammad Naeem 21, Asif Afridi 20 not out; Mohammad Asghar 3-54, Zia-ul-Haq 2-28, Ali Manzoor 2-41).
Published in Dawn, January 17th, 2016