Bahawalpur stun Lahore Blues to seal main round berth

KARACHI: Faisal Mubashir (51*) and skipper Kamran Hussain (27*) shared a vital partnership to enable Bahawalpur to qualify for the main round when they shocked Lahore Blues with a six-wicket victory over them in the first semi-final of National T20 Cup qualifiers in Rawalpindi on Saturday.
Chasing 153, Bahawalpur needed 51 from 33 balls and both Faisal and Kamran played with responsibility to take Bahawalpur’s boat safely to shore with three balls to spare after losing four wickets. The number three batsman Faisal struck four fours and a six from his match-winning 37-ball third fifty of the qualifiers.
Kamran smacked three fours and a six from his 17-ball unfinished feat.
Earlier, Mohammad Yasir (24) and Shahan Akram (22) began the chase for Bahawalpur in aggressive fashion. Ataullah gave a vital breakthrough to Lahore Blues when he removed Yasir, held smartly by Sami Aslam at cover to leave Bahawalpur at 36-1 in four overs.
Yasir smacked four fours and a six from just 13 deliveries. Qaiser Ashraf, the left-arm spinner, then had Shahan before Salman Agha dislodged Aqib Javed (13) to bring Lahore Blues back in the game. Shahan hammered two sixes and two fours from 19 balls.
Left-arm spinner Raza Ali Dar then removed Moinuddin (13) and Bahawalpur were gasping at 102-4 in 14.3 overs.
But Faisal and Kamran defied the odds with their class acts to see their side safely home. Salman Agha, Qaiser Ashraf, Raza Ali Dar and Ataullah clinched one wicket each.
After opting to bat, Imam-ul-Haq (39) and Sami Aslam (35) provided a solid 56-run start to Lahore Blues from 35 balls. Sami, who hit six fours and a six off spinner Mohammad Yasir, was bowled by paceman Mohammad Imran when the left-hander wanted to hit him over mid-wicket and missed it completely. In his brisk 23-ball knock, Sami hit pacer Mohammad Zahir for three successive fours in the fourth over of the innings that yielded 19 runs.
After early fall of Abid Ali (10), Imam also went back in a strange fashion to leave Lahore Blues at 90-3 in 12 overs.
A ball from spinner Moinuddin hit Imam on his leg and it rolled towards the stumps. Instead of stopping it Imam nudged it towards the stumps to end his innings.
Imam smacked five fours from 32 deliveries.
Mohammad Akhlaq (26) and Fahad-ul-Haq (15) then tried to score quick runs but they both were undone by spinner Shahan Akram in the 17th over of the innings to enable Bahawalpur to restrict Lahore Blues to 152-8.
Akhlaq hit Shahan for a huge six in his 21-ball feat. Fahad smacked two fours from 13 deliveries. Blues’ fifty runs came off 35 balls and 100 from 81 balls. Blues scored only 52 runs off the last 39 deliveries that hurt them in the end.
Shahan (2-19) and Mohammad Imran (2-20) bowled well.
Faisal was adjudged man-of-the-match.
The second semi-final was in progress on Saturday night between Karachi Blues and Quetta.
On Friday night, Lahore Blues topped Group A with their third straight win when they overwhelmed Larkana by five wickets.
Imam-ul-Haq, the nephew of former Pakistan captain Inzamam-ul-Haq, struck a fine 53-ball 67 to enable Lahore Blues chase the 147-run target with three balls to spare.
Imam smashed six exquisite fours in his match-winning knock. He added 42 off 29 balls for the opening stand with Abid Ali (24) who hit two sixes and two fours from just 17 deliveries.
Imam, who struck his second successive fifty, then shared 62 off 41 balls for the third wicket with Fahad-ul-Haq who belted 20-ball 29 with two sixes and one four. Fahad, who was caught in the deep, was given out in a dramatic fashion through referral when third umpire Riazuddin first pressed the green light button and then suddenly pressed the red light button when he realised that he made a mistake.
Ali Asghar got 2-24 from four overs.
Earlier, Bilal Irshad chipped in with 47-ball 43 to guide Larkana to 146-5. Bilal, who hit two fours and a six, provided his side a solid 58-run opening stand off 57 balls with Zafar Ali who smashed run-a-ball 30 with one six and two fours.
Bilal then added 65 off 44 deliveries for the third wicket with Asif Babar who smacked a rapid 27-ball 41 with three sixes and three fours.
Bilawal, Ataullah, Qaiser Ashraf, Mohammad Waheed and Salman Agha claimed one wicket apiece. Larkana’s loss helped Quetta to cruise through to the semi-finals on better net run-rate.