Tariq guides SSGC to Ramazan Cricket quartets

KARACHI: Tariq Haroon’s half-century powered Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) into the last eight of the 5th Naya Nazimabad Ramazan Cup Twenty20 Cricket Tournament 2018 as they whipped Rahman Foundation by six wickets in their Group A encounter under floodlights here at the dazzling Hussain Lawai Stadium late on Thursday night.

The fancied SSGC ran into trouble after three losing three early wickets in pursuit of a seemingly modest target of 104 but Tariq guided them home with a dashing innings of 59 to take his side into the quarter-finals rather leisurely in the end. He received Man of the Match award from chief guest Alamgir Anwar Shaikh, President, Pakistan Billiards & Snooker Association (PBSA).

The right-handed Tariq showed his experience under pressure with a delightful match winning knock. Batting smartly, he clobbered three sixes and half a dozen boundaries in his 59 off 46 as SSGC romped home for the loss of four wickets with as many as four overs to spare.

He dominated the 74-run for the fourth wicket with Muzammil Nizam, who made a solid unbeaten 18 off 22 balls without hitting any boundary as SSGC recovered from a precarious 25 for three. Two of those wickets were taken by off-spinner Rana Irfan who gave away only 13 runs in his quota of four overs.

Earlier Rahman Foundation, making their maiden appearance in the competition, continued to struggle as they collapsed to 103 all out in 19.5 overs, having elected to bat after winning the toss. Sohail Afzal was the only batsman to offer any kind of resistance as he scored 21 off 16 deliveries laced with one six and two fours. Muhammad Nadeem got 17 with two hits to the ropes.

Spinners Adil Amin and Kashif Bhatti and pace bowler Muhammad Irfan shared two wickets apiece for the SSGC.SSGC will now meet State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) in their last league round on Sunday night to decide the Group A champions. Debutants Rahman Foundation had a forgettable tournament as they crashed to defeats in all their three matches. Before losing to SSGC, they had been at the receiving end against SBP and Brighto Paints.