KARACHI, April 4: Habib Bank Limited (HBL) stormed into the semi-finals of the National One-day Cricket Cup on Friday when they hastened PIA’s exit from the tournament after scoring a five-wicket win in the last Group ‘B’ Super Eight fixture at the National Stadium.

PIA, who had remained unbeaten throughout the tournament with seven straight wins before Friday, finished below the second-placed HBL on net run-rate in their group which was topped by Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL). All the three teams scored two wins to secure eight points each.

Not even the presence of Pakistan captain Shoaib Malik could do anything to save the national carrier’s fate after HBL skipper Younis Khan elected to field first.

Younis’s decision paid handsome dividends as PIA nosedived to 135 for seven by the 33rd over. But Malik, who was making his only appearance of the tournament after fulfilling various commitments, made his presence felt with both bat and the ball.

Malik was the top scorer with a 49-ball 63, a knock that was chiefly responsible for taking PIA to a somewhat respectable 211 all out. The all-rounder struck five fours and a brace of sixes before falling to slow left-armer Abdul Rehman.

Yasir Hameed (34 off 40 balls, four boundaries) was the other significant scorer in the PIA innings as Rehman ended up with four for 51.

The bankers then overcame a poor start before opener Riffatullah Mohmand (57 off 85 balls, five fours) and Aftab Khan (76 off 88 balls, nine fours) joined hands to put on a match-winning 130 runs for the third wicket.

Shahid Afridi (22 off 23 balls) and Kamran Hussain (24 not out off 26 balls) contributed to the team’s cause while Younis, for some reason, held himself back while allowing Rehman to partner Kamran when the match finished. Malik took two wickets for 44.The bankers will be without Younis, Afridi and Umar Gul for their day/night semi-final clash with arch-rivals National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) on Monday since will be preparing for Tuesday’s first One-day International against Bangladesh in Lahore.

Group ‘A’ winners NBP, meanwhile, will miss no less than five of their players — Kamran Akmal, Fawad Alam, Salman Butt, Nasir Jamshed and Wahab Riaz.

The other semi-final features SNGPL against Group ‘A’ runners-up KRL at the NBP Sports Complex, also on Monday with Misbah-ul-Haq, Sohail Tanvir missing out because of national duty.

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