Sami and Irfan keep Warriors alive

KARACHI: Sami Aslam played a superb knock and left-arm Test pacer Mohammad Irfan picked vital wickets to enable Balochistan Warriors to stay in contention as they defeated Federal United by 34 runs in their Pentangular Cup One-day match here at the National Stadium on Thursday.
The left-handed Sami struck 92 off 87 balls to guide Balochistan Warriors to 323-5 in the stipulated 50 overs.
Irfan then picked 3-55 in 10 overs to dismiss Federal United for 289 in 47.1 overs.
After being invited to bat first, Balochistan Warriors did a fine job. Their top order batsmen played with maturity to guide the team to a decent total on the flat track.
Skipper Azhar Ali (75) and Bismillah Khan (47) provided a healthy 85-run opening stand to make the things easy for the rest of the betters.
Sarmad Bhatti gave a late breakthrough when he removed Bismillah, caught by Kamran Akmal behind the stumps.
Bismillah hit five fours, three in one over of Test spinner Abdur Rehman, in his 50-ball knock.
Sami added 77 for the second wicket with Azhar and 39 for the third wicket with Sohaib Maqsood (20).
Sami then added 122 for the fourth wicket with Usman Salahuddin, who hammered 44-ball 66, smashing six fours.
Azhar, who has been playing extremely well in the event, smashed seven fours and a six in his 92-ball fifty.
Sami, who failed to earn a World Cup ticket, smacked six fours in his tidy knock.
Near the end, Ayaz Tasawwar scored a fiery 13-ball 26 with three fours and a six.
Left-arm pacer Sohail Tanvir, who also failed to find a place in the World Cup squad, bowled well, picking 1-42 in 10 overs.
Awais Zia, Hamza Nadeem, Zohaib Ahmed and Sarmad Bhatti also got one wicket each.
In response, Kamran Akmal (31) and Awais Zia (58) gave a 35-run start off 26 deliveries to Federal United. Irfan got rid of the dangerous Kamran, caught by Sami Aslam after he had hit seven fours from 21 deliveries.
Awais added 105 runs for the second wicket with Umar Waheed (46) but both fell in quick succession, bringing Federal United under pressure.
Awais, who was removed by Rahat Ali, struck nine fours from 54 balls. Umar, who was dislodged by Irfan, hammered five fours from 46 deliveries.
At this stage, skipper Umar Amin once again batted with perfection, hitting fine 100 but failed to save his side from defeat because at the other end his team’s kept losing wickets.
The left-hander, who batted till the end, smashed 15 fours and a six from 93 deliveries. He was the last man to get out, bowled by Irfan.
Babar Azam made 16-ball 18 with one four, while Sohail Tanvir struck 22-ball 15 with two fours.
Irfan was smartly backed by Test pacer Rahat Ali (2-31), Ehsan Adil (2-59) and Kashif Bhatti (2-46).
This was the second victory for Warriors with a game against Punjab Badshahs yet to be played.
The third loss from four matches put Federal United out of the tournament.
Sindh Knights will face Punjab Badshahs on Friday (today). The match will start at 2pm.
Sindh Knights have lost all their previous three games.