KARACHI: PIA on rode on brilliant bowling of Aizaz Cheema to seal the Patron’s Trophy Grade-II cricket title on Wednesday with a remarkable two-day defeat of Brighto Paints by 10 wickets in the final played in Islamabad.
The scheduled four-day game at the Diamond Club Ground ended around 1:30pm on day two as PIA raced to 30 without loss in just 4.2 overs to seal a result that helped them reclaim their first-class status as they have qualified for next season’s Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship.
Aizaz, who was playing just his second game after overcoming fitness issues, was the architect of PIA’s resounding success with match figures of 10 for 53 after picking his second five-for in as many days as Brighto Paints failed to reach 100 in both innings.
The discarded Pakistan seamer’s 5-18 on Tuesday had sent Brighto Paints hurtling for 91 all out in the first innings. A day later, Aizaz repeated the dose by taking the last five wickets to fall while conceding 35 runs in 6.4 overs. This time Brighto Paints improved by abject display on day one by a single run.
At one point they were 63-9 but wicket-keeper Farhan Khan struck a few lusty blows in a 25-ball innings of 35 before his team were bowled for 92 in 24.4 overs. He hit four boundaries and one six.
Sarfraz Ahmed held four catches on Wednesday, giving the gutsy Pakistan wicket-keeper a total of six in the match.
The early damage in the second innings was caused by experienced left-arm paceman Najaf Shah who grabbed three wickets for 32 runs in nine overs.
Ali Imran Pasha claimed five wickets in the match, including 2-17 in the second innings.
Earlier, PIA could add just six runs to their overnight first-innings tally of 150-9 with paceman Ahmed Bashir dismissing Ali Imran to end up with four for 45.
Aizaz, who was named man-of-the-match, later told Dawn that PIA bowlers utilized the conditions better.
“There was nothing wrong with the conditions. The pitch played well but the batting from both teams was reckless,” he said. “Generally, we bowled better than their bowlers since he bowled in the right areas. Obviously, we had the momentum going once we dismissed for less than 100 on the first day.”
PIA will receive the winners’ purse of Rs400,000 later while Brighto Paints, who were plying their first final, would get Rs200,000.
Sami Aslam of State Bank was adjudged the best batsman of the competition and his team-mate Kashif Bhatti was declared the best bowler while Pakistan Television (PTV)’s Raheel Majeed won the best all-rounder prize.
Meanwhile, Multan and Karachi Blues will clash in the four-day final of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy Grade-II Cricket Tournament at the Pindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi from Thursday with the champions of that event qualifying for the first-class Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship.
Scoreboard
BRIGHTO PAINTS (1st Innings) 91 (Mohammad Idrees29; Aizaz Cheema 5-18, Ali Imran Pasha 3-38).
PIA (1st Innings, overnight 150-9):
Kamran Sajid b Ahmed 45
Ubaidullah c Salman b Faisal 9
Shoaib Khan run out 3
Fahad Iqbal c Idrees b Waqas 49
Faisal Iqbal c Faisal b Waqas 1
Shaharyar Ghani c Raza b Ahmed 3
Sarfraz Ahmed c Faisal b Ahmed 11
Tahir Khan c Farhan b Waqas 5
Ali Imran Pasha c Raza b Ahmed 3
Najaf Shah b Waqas 0
Aizaz Cheema not out 5
EXTRAS (B-4, LB-4, W-7, NB-7) 22
TOTAL (all out, 42.5 overs) 156
FALL OF WKTS: 1-27, 2-44, 3-116, 4-116, 5-121, 6-136, 7-141, 8-141, 9-150.
BOWLING: Waqas Ahmed 15-3-63-4 (7nb, 7w); Faisal Rasheed 13-4-40-1; Ahmed Bashir
14.5-2-45-4.
BRIGHTO PAINTS (2nd Innings):
Waqas Saleem c Sarfraz b Najaf 12
Mohammad Idrees c Sarfraz b Najaf 0
Mohammad Waheed c Sarfraz b Ali Imran 1
Akbar Badshah c Tahir b Najaf 4
Faisal Rasheed lbw b Ali Imran 1
Raza Ali Dar c Fahad b Aizaz 8
Salman Ali Agha b Aizaz 12
Farhan Khan not out 35
Kamran Hussain c Sarfraz b Aizaz 5
Waqas Ahmed b Aizaz 1
Ahmed Bashir b Aizaz 12
EXTRAS (W-1) 1
TOTAL (all out, 24.4 overs) 92
FALL OF WKTS: 1-1, 2-2, 3-7, 4-8, 5-22, 6-38, 7-39, 8-57, 9-63.
BOWLING: Najaf Shah 9-0-32-3 (1w); Ali Imran Pasha 5-0-17-2; Kamran Sajid 4-0-8-0; Aizaz Cheema 6.4-1-35-5.
PIA (2nd Innings):
Kamran Sajid not out 13
Ubaidullah not out 15
EXTRAS (LB-1, NB-1) 2
TOTAL (for no wkt, 4.2 overs) 30
BOWLING: Waqas Ahmed 2-1-11-0 (1nb); Ahmed Bashir 1-0-10-0; Mohammad Idrees
1-0-4-0; Waqas Saleem 0.2-0-4-0.
RESULT: PIA won by 10 wickets.
UMPIRES: Ahsan Raza and Mohammad Sajid Afridi.
MATCH REFEREE: Iftikhar Ahmed.
OFFICIAL SCORER: Zafar Yasir.
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Aizaz Cheema.
Published in Dawn, March 31th, 2016