KARACHI: Old age seems to have failed to affect the energy of the discarded Test pacer Mohammad Sami as he pulled off a hat-trick-studded five-wicket haul to put Karachi Whites on the brink of semi-finals through their fourth successive win when they overwhelmed Lahore Blues by 38 runs in the National T20 Cup at Multan Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.
The 37-year old Sami got rid of Mohammad Irfan (9), Farhan Khan (0) and Aizaz Cheema (0) off his three successive deliveries in the penultimate over to complete hat-trick and finished with 5-14 in 3.4 overs to dismiss Lahore Blues for 141 in 18.4 overs while chasing 180.
Sami also has to his credit a hat-trick in Test cricket against Sri Lanka and in one-day international against West Indies.
Sami also became the eighth bowler who claimed hat-trick in national T20 event. Before him Zeeshan Khan, Sohail Ahmed, M Aslam Qureshi, Jannisar Khan, Zulfiqar Babar, M Rameez and Imran Khan Junior have claimed hat-tricks.
Earlier Awais Zia (68) and Shoaib Malik (48) batted with positive approach to guide Karachi Whites to 179-6.
Karachi Whites moved to eight points from five outings and are on the verge of pre-finals of the eight-team event. This was the third loss from Lahore Blues from five meetings. Chasing a stiff target, Lahore Blues kept losing wickets at regular intervals right from the start. Opener Rizwan Hussain was the only bright spark for Lahore Blues as the hard-hitting opener kept the suspense alive till he was bowled by M Sami in the 13th over of the game. Skipper Saad Nasim made 17-ball 23 with one six and one four. Opener Nauman Anwar, who threw his wicket with a rash stroke off the bowling of spinner Raza Hasan, smashed 11-ball 16 with one six and one four. Lahore Blues lost their last four wickets inside 11 runs.
Sami was ably backed by discarded international pacer Rahat Ali who captured 3-44 in four overs. Pakistan’s discard Awais hammered seven fours and three sixes in his swashbuckling 43-ball 68. Malik, who was bowled by Hussain Talat, scored 48. M Irfan (2-31 in 4 overs) and Hussain Talat (2-31 in 4 overs) were the successful bowlers. Sami was declared Man-of-the-Match for his superb bowling.
Earlier in the day, Multan romped to their third win when they comprehensively defeated Lahore Whites by seven wickets to take their points to six at the second spot. Mohammad Hafeez hit unbeaten 46 off 38 balls to enable Multan to achieve the 110-run target with 16 balls to spare.
After losing Zeeshan Malik (9) cheaply, Hafeez added 44 runs for the second wicket association with opener Hasan Raza who hammered 34-ball 33 with five fours. Hafeez struck two sixes and five fours in his commanding knock. After deciding to bat first Lahore Whites put up a slow and pathetic batting display and were restricted to 109-7 in the stipulated 20 overs. Ali Khan was the only batsman who batted with attacking instinct, smashing a 36-ball 43 not out. Skipper Salman Butt made 19. Leg-spinner M Irfan Khan got 2-17 in four overs.
Irfan also with his first ball of his first spell clean bowled Salman Butt with a splendid delivery that came in charply with the left-hander knowing nothing about it before it crashed the stumps. Hafeez, who also took 1-18 in four overs, was adjudged as Man-of-the-Match.
