Azhar hits ton as Warriors slay Knights

KARACHI: Skipper Azhar Ali slammed a fine hundred, while Test pacer Rahat Ali and Zia-ul-Haq bowled splendidly to guide Balochistan Warriors to their maiden victory when they defeated Sindh Knights by eight runs in the high-voltage game of the Pentangular Cup One-day Tournament 2014-15 here at the National Stadium on Tuesday.
Azhar blasted 117 to enable Balochistan Warriors to post 249 all out in the allotted 50 overs. Rahat Ali (4-50) and Zia-ul-Haq (3-31) then restricted Sindh Knights to 241-9.
In the final over from left-arm pacer Zia-ul-Haq, Sindh Knights needed 12 runs. However, Zia only conceded three runs before getting rid of Anwar Ali (24) and Shahzaib Ahmed (1) off his first two deliveries.
Azhar, who opened the innings with Bismillah Khan (1), batted with perfection to help Balochistan Warriors post a tricky total on the board.
Azhar was removed by Sohail Khan in the last over of the innings, comfortably held by Junaid Ilyas at short third-man position.
Azhar, who hit his eighth century in this form of cricket, smashed ten fours from 133 deliveries.
The 29-year old put on 70 runs off 107 deliveries for the second wicket with left-hander Sami Aslam, who cracked a 66-ball 48 which had five fours.
Azhar then shared 50 off 45 balls for the third wicket with Sohaib Maqsood who blasted 28-ball 33, smashing three fours and a six.
Sohaib, who had been battling wrist injury, showed his fitness with a fine knock in front of the selectors who were going to finalise Pakistan’s 15-man squad for the ICC World Cup on Tuesday.
After the loss of Sohaib, Warriors faced a mini-collapse when they lost Mohammad Waqas (6) and Rameez Aziz (0) in quick succession to leave them reeling at 140-5 in 31.5 overs.
However, Ayaz Tasawwar (30) gave a solid support to Azhar as the duo added 75 runs off 84 balls to take the score to 215-6 in 45.1 overs.
Ayaz, who was bowled by Sohail Khan, struck one four from 41 balls.
Sohail then ripped through the tail by taking three wickets in the last over to end with impressive figures of 6-46 from 10 overs.
Sohail was ably backed by young right-arm leg-spinner Shahzaib Ahmed who claimed 2-34 from ten overs which also included the prized scalp of Sohaib Maqsood.
Fawad Alam (1-32 from 6 overs) and left-arm pacer Mir Hamza (1-51 from 10 overs) were the other successful bowlers for Sindh Knights.
While chasing a tricky target under lights, Test pacer Rahat Ali got rid of Fazal Subhan (22) and Khalid Latif (5) to bring Sindh Knights under pressure.
Fazal, who struck two fours and a six from 48 balls, was brilliantly caught at mid-on by Zulfiqar Babar off Rahat while diving towards his right.
However, at that stage, solid Asad Shafiq (100) once again showed his class and added 107 runs off 133 balls for the third wicket association with Faisal Iqbal (50) to consolidate Sindh Knights innings.
Faisal, who was caught by Rameez Aziz off Rahat, hammered three fours from 76 balls.
Soon after skipper Fawad Alam (6) got run out before Zia-ul-Haq had Asad Shafiq to leave Knights at 201-5 in 45 overs.
Asad hammered 11 fours in his 106-ball hundred.
Rahat then got rid of Sohail Khan (11) after he had hit one six and one four from nine balls.
Zulfiqar Babar then removed Mohammad Hasan (8) to leave Knights at 237-7 in 48.5 overs. Anwar Ali, however, once again failed to finish the innings when he lost his wicket in the last over after smashing two fours in his run-a-ball innings. Punjab Badshahs will face Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Fighters on Wednesday (today).