Kamran, Awais shine as Federal United win thriller

KARACHI: Awais Zia and Test stumper Kamran Akmal smashed fine fifties to enable Federal United to produce their first win as they edged Sindh Knights by one wicket in their high-octane match of the Pentangular Cup One-day tournament 2014-15 here at the National Stadium on Friday.
Awais Zia struck 87, while Kamran slammed 78 as Federal United achieved the 317-run target off the last ball of the allotted 50 overs after losing nine wickets.
In the last over, bowled by spinner Junaid Ilyas, Federal United needed seven runs. Abdur Rehman (12) got six off the first two deliveries, but fell on the third ball.
Ilyas bowled a dot ball to Umar Gul (0) and then ran him out off the next delivery. Federal United needed one off the last ball when Ali Sarfraz (33*) hit a four over the bowler’s head to bring in a sensational victory.
Federal United had a good start to their innings as Kamran and Imran Farhat (44) gave a 99-run opening stand from 89 deliveries. Right-arm paceman Tabish Khan finally gave the breakthrough to Sindh Knights by dismissing Farhat, caught by Faisal Iqbal, after the left-handed Test opener had smashed four fours from 45 balls.
Awais gave solid support to Kamran and the duo added 56 off 60 deliveries for the second wicket before Kamran was bowled by Fawad Alam.
Kamran, who is in contention for a place in Pakistan’s World Cup squad, struck eight fours and three sixes in his 69-ball knock.
Umar Amin (37) then joined Awais and added 86 runs off 81 deliveries for the third wicket before Test discard Sohail Khan bowled the latter with a fine delivery.
Left-hander Awais hammered ten fours and a six from just 77 balls. At that stage Federal United were 241-3 in 37.2 overs.
Sohail trapped Babar Azam (0) lbw off his next delivery to bring Sindh Knights back in the game.
Anwar Ali then got rid of skipper Umar Amin after he had added 30 valuable runs for the fifth wicket with Ali Sarfraz. Umar smacked two fours from 48 deliveries.
Sohail then had Sohail Tanvir (14) and Zohaib Ahmed (0) in one over to reduce Federal United to 297-7 in 47.4 overs. Junaid had Abdur Rehman before Gul got run out to leave it to Ali who finished the innings with a superb four.
Sarfraz struck four fours from 32 balls. Ahmed Jamal remained not out without facing a ball.
Sohail Khan was the pick of the bowlers with 4-45 in ten overs. Anwar, Tabish, Junaid and Fawad got one wicket each.
After deciding to bat first, left-hander Sharjeel Khan (21) and Khalid Latif (79) provided a 37-run opening stand before the former edged lanky Test pacer Umar Gul to Kamran. Sharjeel banged four fours from 26 deliveries.
In the next over pacer Ahmed Jamal got rid of Test cricketer Khurram Manzoor (0), caught by Kamran to leave Knights at 38-2 in 8.4 overs.
Asad Shafiq (98) joined Khalid and both played with immense maturity, adding 116 runs off 129 deliveries for the third wicket to pave the way for a huge total.
Khalid got out when he went for a big hit off Abdur Rehman, but mistimed it to Imran Farhat at backward point. Khalid hammered seven fours and two excellent sixes in his commanding 95-ball knock.
Asad then added 94 off 80 deliveries with skipper Fawad (90*) for the fourth wicket. Asad was smartly caught by Kamran behind the stumps off Ahmed Jamal.
Asad struck four sixes and four fours in a rapid 101-ball feat. At that stage Knights were 248-4 in 43.3 overs.
Anwar Ali was run out by Umar Amin for 12 in the 47th over. Fawad and stumper Mohammad Hasan then compiled 40 quick runs off the remaining 22 balls.
Fawad, who hit his second successive fifty, cracked ten fours and a six from just 58 deliveries.
Ahmed Jamal picked 2-46 in his 10 overs. Abdur Rehman (1-61 in 10 overs) and Umar Gul (1-64 in 10 overs) were the other wicket-takers. Sohail Tanvir gave away 67 runs in 10 overs.
This was the second successive loss for Sindh Knights.
On Saturday (today), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Fighters will meet Balochistan Warriors in their third match, which will start at 1pm. Shoaib Malik will play the match, KP Fighters sources said. After Saturday’s (today) game, Malik is expected to fly for Australia to play for Hobart Hurricanes in the Big Bash.