Karachi Whites down: Peshawar, FATA stun Multan

KARACHI: Shoaib Malik and Khurram Manzoor blasted fine fifties and Arshad Iqbal bowled splendidly to enable Karachi Whites to surge to the summit when they overwhelmed Peshawar by 21 runs in their third outing of the National T20 Cup at Multan Cricket Stadium in Multan on Saturday.

With the second win from three games, Karachi Whites moved to four points and lead Lahore Whites (4 points), Multan (4 points) and Rawalpindi (4 points) on net run-rate.

Former Pakistan skipper Malik (71*) and in-form Khurram (53) catapulted Karachi Whites to 161-3 in the allotted 20 overs after being invited to bat first.

Rookie medium pacer Arshad then got 3-17 in four overs to enable Karachi Whites to dismiss Peshawar for 140.

Chasing a stiff target, Fawad Khan (42) and Israrullah (30) build a solid foundation for Peshawar, sharing 58 runs off only 39 balls for the first wicket.

Irregular bowler Akbar-ur-Rehman gave the breakthrough to Karachi Whites when he got rid of dangerous Fawad in the seventh over. Fawad hammered three sixes and four fours in his blistering 25-ball knock.

Akbar then had Israrullah in the 10th over to bring Karachi Whites back in the game. The left-handed Israrullah, who was also dropped in the deep off the bowing of Rahat Ali, smacked four fours from 32 deliveries.

However, Peshawar lost their control after that, losing wickets at regular intervals before being restricted well away of the target.

Raees Ahmed, who came at No 4, offered some resistance, scoring a 25-ball 31 which contained four fours to make Peshawar sweat for the victory.

Arshad was ably backed by Akbar who, in fact, spurred Peshawar’s collapse by removing both well-set openers, finishing with 2-13 in three overs.

Discarded international Rahat Ali remained the most expensive of the bowlers for Karachi Whites as he took 1-42 in four overs.

Earlier, Malik and Khurram did a fine job with the willow to take Karachi Whites to a fighting total.

Khurram, who fell in the 15th over of the innings, smacked seven fours in his 48-ball third successive fifty in this event so far.

Malik, however, did brutal hitting, smashing two sixes and six fours in his explosive 42-ball unfinished feat.

Test pacer Imran Khan (1-31 in 3), Imran Khan Junior (1-41 in 4) and Mohammad Junaid (1-24 in 4) were the successful bowlers. Malik was adjudged the Man-of-the-Match.

Earlier in the day, after losing their previous two outings quite closely, FATA eventually opened their account after beating strong Multan by five wickets thanks to fine performances from Mohammad Irfan Junior and Samiullah.

Medium-pacer Irfan produced his career-best figures, taking 5-17 in three overs to restrict Multan to 136-9.

Irfan’s last four wickets came in the final over of the innings. Mohammad Mohsin top-scored with a 32-ball 56 for Multan, striking seven fours and one six in his fiery 32-ball knock.

Samiullah Junior then smashed a 49-ball 58 with two sixes and four fours as FATA raced to the target with four balls to spare after losing five wickets.

Discarded international spinner Zulfiqar Babar (2-21) and leggie Mohammad Irfan Khan (2-26) were the successful bowlers. Irfan Junior was declared the Man-of-the-Match for his superb bowling.

FATA captain Asif Afridi said the team played according to the plan.

“Today, we played as per the plan and remained successful. We had a long meeting last night and gave confidence to the batsmen. Samiullah batted according to the plan. We also sent Sohail Akhtar down the order as he is a hard-hitting batsman and that also worked for us,” Asif said.

“Our key players Khushdil Shah and Adil Amin will also be available for the next match and InshaAllah we will win that too,” he added.

Meanwhile, Multan skipper Sohaib Maqsood credited FATA for the way they played. “FATA have been a good team. They also lost their previous two games closely. After having faced hiccups in the top order, we recovered in the middle and it was expected that we would reach 150 and plus but we could not score much in the last two overs and that hurt us,” Sohaib said.

“Toss is vital but it should not be an excuse when you lose it. At noon, the pitch also becomes easy and that matters too. We will try our level best to do better in the next match,” discarded hard-hitting international batsman Sohaib added. Today’s fixtures: Lahore Whites v Karachi Whites (11am), Lahore Blues v Multan (3pm).