Sharjeel’s blinder blanks out Islamabad

Despite Zohaib’s all-round show in Super Eight T20.

KARACHI:

A brilliant 33-ball 61 by opener Sharjeel Khan resulted in a three-wicket victory for the Hyderabad Hawks against Islamabad Leopards in their opening match of the Faysal Bank Super Eight T20, despite an all-round show by Zohaib Ahmed.

Chasing 165 for a win, Hyderabad were off to a blinder, thanks to Sharjeel’s blitz, who shared a 64-run opening stand with captain Azeem Ghumman.

Ghumman was just left to admire his partner’s belligerence at the non-striker’s end for much of the partnership, and was only able to contribute 11.

A late flurry of wickets gave Islamabad some hope, with Zohaib picking up three wickets but it was not enough to close out a win.

Earlier, Zohaib had also starred with the bat scoring 55, with his knock being the cornerstone of Islamabad’s innings. Ghulam Yasin was the pick of the bowlers, snaring four scalps.

Bowlers do the magic for Karachi

Earlier, Karachi Dolphins beat Rawalpindi Rams by nine runs, managing to defend a modest 145-run total.

Rawalpindi got off to a horrendous start losing their first wicket inside the first over.

Thereafter, they kept losing wickets at regular intervals, with only Test discard Umar Amin standing tall with an unbeaten 54. Karachi’s bowlers put up a disciplined show with Azam Hussain turning out to be the star for the Dolphins, picking up three wickets.

Earlier, Karachi’s innings was buoyed by a 68-run second-wicket partnership between Shahzaib Hasan (35) and Rameez Raja. However, the bowling side struck back with some quick wickets that checked the scoring rate. Samiullah was the pick of the bowlers with two for 23.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 26^th, 2011.