Benazirabad clinch Sindh leg of City Cricket tournament

KARACHI: Shaheed Benazirabad won the Sindh-leg of the two-day City Cricket Association Tournament 2022-23 on the basis of a better run-rate after their final against Hyderabad ended in a draw here at the Hanif Mohammad High Performance Centre at the National Stadium.

After the first day’s play was washed out due to rain, the match started on day two.

Shaheed Benazirabad’s captain Haris Khan won the toss and opted to field first. Hyderabad managed to score 277 for six in 57 overs on the back of captain Fardeen’s 62-ball 61, which included seven fours and one six. Dawood Khan top-scored with a quick-fire 75 off 56 balls and struck eight fours and two sixes.

For Shaheed Benazirabad, right-arm leg-spinner Jawad Ali bagged four wickets for 60.

In return, half-centuries by Haris (60,68b, nine fours) and Saddam Hussain (58,113b, eight fours, one six) helped Shaheed Benazirabad post 171 for seven in 45 overs. When stumps were drawn for the day Shaheed Benazirabad were declared winners on the basis of better run-rate.

After the win, Shaheed Benazirabad’s captain Haris Khan said: “The players had the commitment to do well in the tournament and ended up winning the tournament. Our coach guided us really well and we executed the plan successfully on the field.”

In the four-group 17-team Sindh-leg, Shaheed Benazirabad topped Pool B with 15 points, while Hyderabad topped Pool C with 23 points to qualify for the semi-finals. The other two teams to qualify for the semi-finals were Karachi Zone VI from Pool A with 33 points and Karachi Zone IV from Pool D with 14 points.

The first semi-final was played between Karachi Zone VI and Hyderabad at the Hanif Mohammad HPC National Stadium Ground in Karachi from 6 to 7 July. On first innings lead, Hyderabad were declared winners and qualified for the final. The star performers for Hyderabad in the first semi-final were Mustafa Nasir (four for 43) and wicketkeeper-batter Akbar Khan (89,58b, six fours, eight sixes).

In the second semi-final played between Shaheed Benazirabad and Karachi Zone IV at the UBL Sports Complex in Karachi, only 25.3 overs were bowled when play was stopped due to rain and no further play was possible. Shaheed Benazirabad were declared winners on the basis of more points in the group stage compared to Karachi Zone IV.

Faizan Khan representing Karachi Zone V topped the batting charts with 410 runs from three matches at 102.50. Mirpurkhas’ Mohammad Saddam was second on the list with 384 runs from four outings in the tournament.

Mohammad Tariq Khan, representing Karachi Zone VI, topped the bowling charts with 35 wickets from five matches. Second on the list was right-arm leg-spinner Arif Yaqoob who bagged 24 wickets from three matches.