Karachi Blues, Bahawalpur reach T20 qualifiers semis

KARACHI: Star-studded Karachi Blues and Bahawalpur blasted their way into the semi-finals when they won their respective Group B matches of the National T20 Cup qualifiers in Rawalpindi on Thursday.
Karachi Blues overwhelmed Dera Murad Jamali by 53 runs, their second successive triumph with a game against Bahawalpur yet in hand.
Bahawalpur also registered their second consecutive win when they overcame FATA by ten runs.
Karachi Blues-DM Jamali showdown turned out to be a one-sided affair. After being asked to bat, Karachi Blues posted 172-5, the highest total of the qualifiers so far.
International Khalid Latif played a key role by scoring a spectacular 46-ball 51, hitting six sweetly-timed boundaries. After Khurram Manzoor (0) fell cheaply, Khalid added 76 off 53 balls for the second wicket with Shahzaib Hassan (32) who hammered three huge sixes and a four in his 23-ball cameo.
Khalid then shared 32 off 29 balls for the third wicket with Asad Shafiq (35) who smacked five fours from 25 balls.
Anwar Ali, who played a superb innings against Sri Lanka in a T20 game recently, chipped in with 26 from just ten deliveries. Anwar smashed two sixes and two fours.
Skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed struck unbeaten 16 off six balls with three fours.
Mohammad Sami made nine from three balls, hitting Faizullah for a glorious six off the last ball of the final over that yielded 21 runs.
Pacer Imran Khan got 2-30 from four overs.
DM Jamali were never in control and were restricted to 119-9.
Nasir Khan (32) and Najeebullah (35) made 47 runs off 26 deliveries for the fifth wicket, but after their fall the remaining batting turned out to be toothless.
Nasir hammered one six and two fours from 24 deliveries. Najeeb struck three fours and a six from 25 balls.
Skipper Taimur Ali belted 24-ball 21 with three hits to the fence.
Spinners Shahzaib Ahmed (2-19) and Faraz Ahmed (2-26) bowled intelligently.
Faisal Mubashir’s all-round show guided Bahawalpur to a much-needed win over FATA who crashed out of the event.
Mubashir slammed unbeaten 79 off 52 balls with nine fours and a six to enable Bahawalpur to stage 156-8.
Khushdil Shah (2-21) and Mohammad Sarwar (2-23) bowled well.
Mubashir then took 3-27 from 3.1 overs to enable Bahawalpur to dismiss FATA for 146 in 19.1 overs.
Mohammad Zahir (3-21) blew the top order to play a key role in Bahawalpur’s bid to defend the total.
Rehan Afridi scored 37-ball 36 with four fours. He added 39 for the third wicket with Rahim Baz, who made 26-ball 33 with five fours.
Asad Afridi (21) and Asif Afridi (18) kept suspense in the game with ruthless hitting but after their departure the pendulum titled in Bahawalpur’s favour.
On Wednesday, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) kept themselves alive when they demolished Larkana by 58 runs in their Group A meeting.
Left-handed Hasan Raza hit 46-ball 50 with five fours to guide AJK to 123-8. Afraz Khoso captured 4-24. Larkana perished for only 65.
Usman Maroof (3-9), Irfan Talib (2-8) and Naqash Basharat (2-22) were impressive with the ball.
On Friday (today), Karachi Blues face Bahawalpur and Lahore Blues meet Larkana.
The winners of the semi-finals will qualify for the main round to be held from September 8-15.