KARACHI: As they say it’s better late than never. After the shambles of the league-round with rain and poor conditions combining to ruin all matches scheduled in the northern regions of the country, the knockout phase of the National One-day Cup for Regions is guaranteed maximum cricket.

This is how the scenario has developed after the domestic managers of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) made the belated choice of switching the business end of the withered tournament to National Stadium in Karachi where the weather is almost unlikely to disrupt play.

The eagerly-awaited semi-finals are to be played on Monday and Tuesday, respectively with the confident-looking Karachi Whites taking on Islamabad in the first battle and Karachi Blues playing last qualifiers Peshawar in the other one with the winners of both fixtures going through to Friday’s final.

Peshawar, who generally play with a never-say-die attitude, made it to the last-four stage by handing Lahore Blues a 134-run drubbing in last Friday’s last-round game at the Arbab Niaz Stadium in Peshawar.

In sharp contrast to the intermittent action – or no cricket at all as illustrated by 10 out of the 27 games abandoned without a ball being delivered – over the past couple of weeks, the remaining three matches are guaranteed maximum entertainment with PTV Sports beaming the action live from 10:00am onwards.

In the 18 games possible there were just seven individual centuries scored with former Pakistan opener Khurram Manzoor notching up two as did young Khushdil Shah for the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) with Khurram poised to post at least two more if Karachi Blues go all the way.

Khurram is also just 12 runs shy of overtaking Fata’s guest player Hussain Talat to become the leading run-getter in the competition with Islamabad’s guest star Ahmed Shehzad breathing down his neck with 273.

Shehzad, the temperamental Pakistan discard, has been in red-hot form over the past six weeks or so since he is virtually fresh from his grandeur exploits in the National One-day Cup for Departments during which he amassed a remarkable 653 runs from nine games at an astonishing average of 93.23 with three hundreds including a buccaneering career-best effort of 166 in the semi-final win over Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) on the last day of 2016.

Shehzad is returning to the venue where his inspirational display guided Habib Bank Limited (HBL) to a deserved title exactly three weeks ago when the bankers romped past Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) in the final.

Islamabad’s hopes of upstaging the rampant Karachi Whites depend heavily on the shoulders of Shehzad and if he is nabbed early then it would be mighty tough ask for Islamabad to make the final.

Saleem Jaffer, the ex-Pakistan left-arm paceman, has been the man behind resurgence of Karachi Whites with his calm style of coaching. But moreover, his charges have been a disciplined lot throughout the season and in Tabish Khan they have someone who is the driving force with the ball as the speedster yearns to get the national selectors’ nod for that elusive international cap.

Karachi Blues, who won’t be playing first-class cricket next season after a dreadful outing in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship, have another chance to redeem themselves for the second time in nearly five months. On Sept 16 last year, they edged past Karachi Whites by only three runs in Multan to seal Pakistan’s business capital maiden Twenty20 crown.

Therefore, another all-Karachi final is a real possibility this time too if Islamabad and Peshawar both endure off-days in their respective last-four outings.

Published in Dawn, January 23rd, 2017