Cricket: Omar Associates cruise into quarterfinal

KARACHI: Omar Associates stormed into the quarter-finals of the 5th Naya Nazimabad Ramazan Cup Twenty20 Cricket Tournament 2018 as they overwhelmed National Bank of Pakistan (NBP by 40 runs in their Group B encounter under floodlights here at the Hussain Lawai Stadium late on Friday night.

The duo of Sami-ur-Rahman and Asif Ali were the outstanding performers of the night for the star-studded Omar Associates outfit. The duo was declared as joint winner of Man of the Match award.

Batting first, after winning the toss, Omar Associates recovered from an uncertain start which saw them slump to 57 for four as they posted a fighting total of 148 for of seven in the allotted overs. The bankers were on top after having dismissed the quartet of Usman Khan, Danish Aziz, Saad Naseem and Khushdil Shah in quick succession. Bilal Asif took two of these wickets including that of skipper Saad Naseem for a duck.

Sami-ur-Rahman batted solidly under pressure and he was supported by Anwar Ali with whom he added 42 for fifth wicket. He accelerated in the later part of his innings, belting four towering sixes and two fours in top-scoring with 61 off 49 balls. Ashiq Ali hit an unbeaten 17 off 10 balls to take his Omar Associates close to 150-run mark.

Veteran Test left-arm spinner Abdur Rahman captured three wickets 21 runs for NBP while Bilal Asif and Raza Hasan took two each. NBP, in reply, crashed to 108 all out in 16.1 overs. Rameez Raja made 29 in 24 balls with a six and two fours while Saad Khan hoisted brace of sixes and hit one four in his 26 off 21 balls. In a dramatic collapse NBP lost their last four wickets for mere two runs.

After the tall speedster Muhammad Irfan (2-10) had removed both the openers, the spin duo of Asif Ali (3-17) and Ashiq Ali (2-17) sliced through the middle-order to engineer a comfortable victory for Omar Associates.

Prof Ejaz Ahmed Farooqui, former President, Karachi City Cricket Association (KCCA), was the chief guest in the presentation ceremony which was also attended by Nadeem Omar, President-Elect, KCCA, Arif Habib, Chairman, Arif Habib Group, and Samad Habib, CEO, Javedan Corporation.