By Abdul Jabbar Faisal
ISLAMABAD (December 28, 2019):- Hosts Bahawalpur and Peshawar stormed into the final of the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) T-20 Blind’s Cricket Trophy (Grade-1) after winning semifinals at Dring Cricket Stadium Bahawalpur on Saturday. Final will be played on Sunday at same venue.
1st Semifinal: Peshawar beat AJK
Peshawar beat Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) in a sensational finish. Peshawar reached the target on the last ball of the innings to jump into final.
In the morning, AJK won the toss and decided to bat first. AJK riding on the special ton of Nisar Ali posted 222 runs on the board for the loss of 6 wickets in allotted 20 overs. Nisar Ali made 105 off 54 balls featuring 20 fours. Faisal Mehmood also played well for his 60 runs off 39 balls. For Peshawar, Mohsin Khan was the successful bowler, who took 3 wickets while Shafiullah, Haseenullah and Haroon Khan claimed 1 wicket each.
Peshawar started well and both openers Sanaullah Khan and Haroon Khan shared century opening stand. Haroon Khan’s wicket opened door of fight back to AJK, he was bowled by Arfan Majeed after scoring 58 runs. Sanaullah’s 86 runs off 46 balls helped Peshawar to creep near the target but his wicket fetched another twist in the game. But Mohsin Khan’s 31 balls 51 runs enabled his team to cross the line on the last ball of the innings in a nail biting finish. Arfan Majeed took 2 wickets and Idrees Saleem claimed one.
Result: Peshawar won by 6 wickets
Man of the Match: Mohsin Khan
Second Semifinal: Bahawalpur beat Islamabad
Islamabad won the toss and put Bahawalpur into bat. Islamabad put tremendous pressure in first 6 overs of the game. Islamabad dismissed openers Moeen Aslam and Mohammad Ijaz cheaply they made 4 runs and 12 runs respectively. Mohammad Ayyaz also got out 14 runs. Thereafter, Mohammad Rashid and Zafar Iqbal played exceptionally well and built 122 runs partnership for 4th wicket and took their team out of whirlpool. Mohammad Rashid made 77 runs off 33 balls and Zafar Iqbal scored 76 off 38 balls. Mohammad Daniyal scored 14 runs and Shahzaib made 10 runs.
Bahawalpur in their 20 overs made 264 runs for the loss of 8 wickets. Anees Javed, Yasir Andleeb, Hasnain Shamim took a wicket a piece.
Islamabad in reply scored 196 runs for the loss of 6 wickets in 20 overs. Shahzaib Hasan scored 61 runs off 37 balls and Anees Javed made 51 runs. Ijaz and Shahzaib took 2 wickets each.
Result: Bahawalpur won by 68 runs
Man of the Match: Zafar Iqbal
