KARACHI: Johar Bears and Millat Cricket Club overpowered their respective rivals in matches of Karachi Gymkhana-Omar Associates Ramazan Festival Cricket Tournament here at the KG Cricket Ground on Sunday. In the morning session, Johar Bears edged out DLI Zafa by three wickets in a last-ball finish in their Group C encounter.
In the afternoon session, Millat CC outgunned Momin Seeds by 106 runs in a Group B fixture. Put into bat, DLI Zafa scored a respectable 163 for five in the allotted 20 overs against Johar Bears thanks to a brilliant unbeaten 41 off 18 balls by Muhammad Faiq, who smashed a couple of sixes and five fours.
Arshad Pathan hit a breezy 36 off 20 balls containing three sixes and a four, while opener Sufyan Khan’s aggressive 28 off 16 balls was punctuated with two sixes and three fours. Johar Bears got off to a sensational start through openers Umair Yousuf (43 off 20 balls) and Zeeshan Malik (29 off 26 balls), who scored 71 runs together in quick time.
DLI Zafa fought back through the spin duo of Muhammad Faiq (2-15) and Junaid Ilyas (2-22) but Atiq-ur-Rahman’s 29 off 19 balls revived Johar Bears and the job was completed by Shahzad Ahmed, later adjudged the Man of the Match, for his unbeaten 17 off as many balls.
In the other match, a 120-run fifth wicket partnership between Lal Kumar (80 off 43 balls) and Ahsan Bhatti, who remained unconquered on 77 off 42 balls, allowed Millat CC to post a formidable 202 for seven from a precarious 23 for four against Momin Seeds.
Medium-pacer Asim Ali (4-31) was the pick of the Momin Seeds bowlers with left-arm Abdul Qayyum (2-41) also picking up important wickets.
Momin Seeds, in reply, crashed to 96 all out in 18.5 overs with only opener Usama Mughal (38 off 28 balls) offering some resistance to the rampaging spin trio of Saddam Hussain (3-7), Sajjad Hashmi (3-8) and Shayan Naeem (3-24). The Man of the Match award, however, was clinched by Lal Kumar for his game-changing knock.