National One-Day Cup: Islamabad produce shock of the tournament

Defeat favourites KRL by seven wickets to set up final with NBP

Nabil Tahir January 27, 2016

Shahid Yousuf hit 14 boundaries in his 89-ball 100-run knock to register his best individual score in the tournament and deservedly earn the man of the match award. PHOTO COURTESY: PCB

KARACHI: An unbeaten ton by man of the match Shahid Yousuf and a four-wicket haul by Hasan Ali steered Islamabad into the final of the National One-Day Cup as they defeated the most in-form team, KRL, by seven wickets at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Wednesday.

Islamabad, taking the advantage of winning the toss, sent KRL to bat first and destroyed their top-order swiftly as Ali grabbed three wickets in his first four overs, while he took the fourth in his 10th to complete his spell with figures of 4-28.

KRL’s only solace came from Shoaib Ahmed (74) and skipper Saeed Anwar Jr (54),who built a 104-run partnership to guide their team to a weak, but defendable, total of 231.

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Luqman Butt (33) and Nauman Ali (31) also contributed with important knocks.

In reply, despite Islamabad losing opener Muhammad Naeem for nought in the fourth over, they managed to reach the target in 46 overs with the loss of three wickets as Yousuf made 100 off 89 balls, while Ali Sarfraz (48) and Sarmad Bhatti (44) provided the support.

Majid Ali, Sadaf Hussain and Yasir Ali took one wicket each for KRL, who had gone unbeaten in the tournament — the only team to do so — before this loss.

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“This is our best win. Defeating the best team in the tournament with this margin is a great achievement,” said Islamabad captain Zohaib Ahmed. “The weather had a huge role to play in both the semi-finals and we were extremely lucky to win the toss and take advantage of it.”

Meanwhile Anwar Jr seconded his counterpart’s comments on the weather and rued his batsmen’s inability to handle the bowl in the initial overs.

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“By the time Ahmed and I came in to bat, the weather had played its part. We had lost four wickets by then as the openers could not handle the swing. We tried to salvage something from the game and did manage to score some runs, but the damage had already been done,” said Anwar Jr.

Islamabad will now face NBP, who defeated UBL in the first semi-final on Tuesday, at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Friday.

Published in The Express Tribune, January 28^th, 2016.

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