KARACHI: The stage is set for a pulsating battle for supremacy at the National Stadium when Habib Bank Limited (HBL) take on Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) in the much-awaited final of the President’s Trophy Grade-I National Cricket Championship from Monday.
The fixture, which was originally scheduled to be played from Dec 3, was put back to accommodate the staging of the National Twenty20 Cup in Lahore from Dec 1 to 9. In fact, when the revised dates were announced the venue was Gaddafi Stadium but foggy weather in the Punjab forced the authorities to shift the tie to guarantee a full five-day game between two evenly-matched teams.
Both outfits are loaded with stars with nine members of the South Africa-bound Test squad likely to be seen in action in the title-decider. While Pakistan Test captain Misbah-ul-Haq leads SNGPL, ex-national skipper Younis Khan is in charge of the HBL side. In addition to the veteran stalwarts, there are will be a number of current Pakistan players in action.
Mohammad Hafeez, the Pakistan Twenty20 skipper, heads a pretty strong batting line-up that SNGPL boasts with his regular Test opening partner being Taufiq Umar, who switched alliance before the start of the ongoing season after representing HBL for 13 seasons.
The openers are followed by the likes of Azhar Ali, Umar Akmal, Misbah and Adnan Akmal in what is a formidable batting line-up, at least on paper.
But HBL have a more teeth in their bowling armoury to counter them with the vastly experienced Umar Gul leading the attack that includes the latest pace talent in Ehsan Adil as well as left-armer Abdul Ameer the seasoned Fahad Masood who is a reliable performer on the domestic front.
The return of Test left-armer Abdur Rehman from the drugs ban gives HBL added bite the in the spin department.
HBL, on the other hand, will by heavily relying on the experienced shoulders of Younis to carry their batting hopes alongside Asad Shafiq, Shan Masood and Usman Salahuddin who together with their captain provide the much-needed solidity to balance the swashbuckling styles of Imran Farhat and Ahmed Shehzad.
Compared to the HBL bowling, SNGPL are lacking a bit in terms of experience. Asad Ali, who was in ODI squad for the recent tout of India but didn’t play, and left-arm seamer Samiullah Khan Niazi spearhead the bowling resources with leg-spinner Yasir Shah on hand to provide variety.
The most interesting aspect of the match will be the brand of balls to be utilized with the imported Kookaburra variety finally set to make its first appearance this season in place of the local ones, specifically for this final since it is the dress-rehearsal for the South Africa tour.
It is no easy to pick the winners — with the eventual champions to get only Rs500,000 — here with both coaches anticipating a good contest.
HBL coach and ex-Test paceman Liaquat Ali said on Sunday: “One can’t say with certainty about the outcome of what should be a great game between two good teams. We have utmost regards for our opponents.”
Basit Ali, the former Pakistan batsman who is the SNGPL coach, said that the team keeping it simple would prevail.
“I think any side sticking to the basics generally performs better than the opposition. Here we have two fine outfits who have played against each other enough to gauge the strengths/weaknesses. I feel it would be a close affair,” Basit remarked.
Teams (from):
HABIB BANK LIMITED: Younis Khan (captain), Imran Farhat, Shan Masood, Ahmed Shehzad, Asad Shafiq, Usman Salahuddin, Humayun Farhat, Ehsan Adil, Abdur Rehman, Umar Gul, Fahad Masood, Abdul Ameer, Sarmad Anwar, Rameez Aziz, Kamran Hussain, Farhan Iqbal. SUI NORTHERN GAS PIPELINES LIMITED: Mohammad Hafeez, Taufiq Umar, Azhar Ali, Umar Akmal, Misbah-ul-Haq (captain), Ali Waqas, Adnan Akmal, Bilawal Bhatti, Asad Ali, Samiullah Khan Niazi, Imran Ali, Mohammad Rizwan, Raza Ali Dar, Yasir Shah, Ali Waqas, Khurram Shehzad. Umpires: Saleem Badar and Riazuddin. TV umpire: Kamal Merchant. Reserve umpire: Khalid Mahmood Sr. Match referee: Ilyas Khan. Official scorer: Mohammad Ahsan. Media scorer: Syed Imran Ali.