Karachi Whites’ Shafiq smashed 10 fours in his 43-ball stay to lay the foundation for a successful chase. PHOTO COURTESY: PCB
Asad Shafiq was the star for Karachi Whites as his 62-run knock guided his side to a six-wicket win over FATA in their National T20 Cup encounter at the Multan Cricket Stadium yesterday.
FATA, who elected to bat first, were restricted to 124 runs as Karachi Whites’ Tabish Khan ran riot and claimed three wickets, while Sohail Khan bagged a brace.
FATA were under pressure from the get-go, with Karachi Whites claiming wickets at regular intervals. Opener Fawad Khan lost his wicket in the second over as he was caught by Shafiq off Sohail’s delivery, while six balls later Umar Siddiq was sent packing when he edged the ball to wicketkeeper Mohammad Hasan off Tabish’s delivery.
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Asif Ali (nine) was the next to follow when he was caught by Akbarur Rehman off Tabish’s delivery, who claimed his second wicket of the match.
Bilal Asif then steadied FATA’s innings and formed a strong 49-run partnership with Aamer Yamin with the pair contributing 44 and 34 runs respectively to the total.
Yamin was dismissed in the 13th over with FATA 80-4 but Asif stood strong and held his ground to lay the foundation for his side to post a total of 124 runs.
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In reply, Karachi Whites were off to a shaky start as they lost opener Ahsan Ali in the first over but Shafiq (62) and Rameez Raja Jr (17) anchored their side’s innings and registered a 73-run partnership before losing the latter in the ninth over.
Shafiq was the next to make his way back to the pavilion as he was dismissed by Mohammad Irfan in the 12th over with the team 87-3. Rehman and Danish Aziz then added 16 and 17 runs respectively to take their side closer to the target before losing the former in the 17th over with the team needing nine runs to win.
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Saud Shakeel’s run out four balls later was a slight cause of concern for Karachi Whites but Sohail Khan smashed two boundaries to comfortably reach the target.
Yamin, Asif Afridi, Irfan and Sameen Gul took one wicket apiece for FATA.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 11th, 2016.
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