Babar heroics take Tapal CC into KG Ramazan T20 semis

KARACHI: Babar Rahman’s fine all-round performance helped Tapal Cricket Club advance into the semi-finals of the Karachi Gymkhana Ramazan Twenty20 Tournament as they short-circuited K-Electric by two wickets here at the Karachi Gymkhana Cricket Ground on Monday.
Batting first, K-Electric recovered from early hiccups to reach 148 for seven in their 20 overs. Coming in at number nine, with his side reeling at 91 for seven, Tabish Khan whacked three sixes and one four in his whirlwind unbeaten 31 off 12 balls to lift the total.
Saad Shakeel (25 off 19 balls), Usman Khan (21 off 24 balls) and Rizwan Khan (19 off 14 balls) made valuable contributions as the innings was shaken by medium-pacer Babar Rahman (2-12) and left-arm spinner Mohammad Asad (2-19).
Tapal CC suffered a middle-order collapse after a 64-run second wicket stand between opener Ali Sarfaraz (33 off 31 balls) and Naved Khan (30 off 30 balls). Off-spinner Mansoor Khan (4-24) and left-arm spinner Kamran Ghulam (3-30) reduced them to 97 for seven, as six wickets tumbled for only 28 runs.
Babar Rahman, adjudged Man of the Match, scored 41 not out off 25 balls, hitting four sixes and two fours, and saw Tapal CC home on the final ball of the innings.
He played superbly under pressure hitting the required 15 runs in the last over.
In the first semi-final to be held on Tuesday (today), defending champions Omar Cricket Club will be taking on Rivo Mobile. The other pre-final will be held between Touchme XI and Tapal CC on Wednesday (tomorrow).