KARACHI, April 19: Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL) achieved an unprecedented double when they annexed the President’s Cup One-day title after securing a comfortable 32-run victory over Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) in the final at the National Stadium here on Friday.

SNGPL, who clinched the first-class President’s Trophy championship when they defeated Habib Bank Limited by 75 runs in the final last January, celebrated their second title on their lucky ground and their third one-day crown after having previously won in 2007-08 and 2009-10 after Wapda finished at 251-9 chasing 284 for victory.Wapda’s solitary limited-overs title came in 2004-05 while on Friday they finished runners-up for the second time after losing to PIA in the 2002-03 season final.

SNGPL were handicapped by the absence of their skipper Misbah-ul-Haq when they came out to field in the second half of the match. The official word from the change room was that Pakistan’s Test and ODI captain was suffering from a slight hamstring while batting.

However, national T20 captain Mohammad Hafeez marshalled his troops well and strategically placed them in the field to jolt Wapda twice in quick successions through paceman Asad Ali. In-form openers Riffatullah Mohmand and Hafiz Saad Nasim both failed to trouble the scorers this time after being involved in three century partnerships in successive matches as Asad’s incisive cutters found gaps in the intending drives – first attempted by Riffatullah (7) and then by Saad (1).

Man-of-the-Match Asad’s opening burst with the new ball not only fetched him two for 10 in five overs and final analysis of four for 37 but also catapulted the 24-year-old from Faisalabad as the possible logical successor to injured paceman Umar Gul when the selectors name the 15-man Champions Trophy squad. He later was adjudged the best bowler of the competition with 14 wickets (at 17.07 per scalp).

Sohaib Maqsood and Ali Azmat revived Wapda’s hopes by putting on exactly 100 runs for the third wicket from 113 balls before the left-handed Ali (39 off 57 balls) attempted to cut occasional off-spin of Khurram Shehzad only to find wicket-keeper Mohammad Rizwan gloving a neat catch. Ali was quite severe on Hafeez as he struck him for three of the four sixes in his innings.

Sohaib, who surpassed Riffatullah as the tournament’s leading batsman by only two runs with a tally of 427 (averaging 71.16), quite uncharacteristically, tried to pull Yasir Shah against the spin was top-edged the ball that landed in Rizwan’s lap. Until that defining moment, Sohaib looked in supreme touch as he made 57 off 71 balls with six fours and a brace of sixes — one apiece off Hafeez and Bilawal Bhatti.

Mohammad Ayub Dogar, unflappable by wickets tumbling at the other end, kept Wapda in the hunt with some beautiful strokes as he hit nine fours in an unbeaten 66 off 60 deliveries. But his efforts proved futile in the end as SNGPL won Rs250,000 for their feat along with the glittering cup with the runners-up taking half of that amount.

Rizwan and Ali Nadeem of Khan Research Laboratories shared the best wicket-keeper’s prize after both had nine dismissals in the competition.

Earlier, SNGPL’s total was built around the solid opening provided by Hafeez and Taufiq Umar after Rana Naved-ul-Hasan decided at the toss that fielding would be his obvious choice on a pitch that appeared on the slower side.

The Test pair added 125 off 124 balls before occasional leg-spin of Saad Nasim accounted for both men. Hafeez holed out to cover after striking seven boundaries during his 64-ball contribution of 58. Taufiq, declared the event’s best fielder for holding seven catches, left the scene in almost identical fashion after scoring 79 (78 balls, eight fours) before Umar Akmal flattered to deceive again when he drove down Ayub’s throat in the covers while aiming a booming drive at slow left-armer Tanzeel Altaf.

Azhar scored a 51-ball 33 that included just one boundary before Junaid Khan uprooted his uncovered leg stump with a perfect swinging delivery.

Misbah and Khurram added 33 when Junaid got his national team captain for a 35-ball 34 that included three fours and one six.

Khurram’s run-a-ball 42 lifted the score pat 280 before left-arm seamer Nasir Malik grabbed three wickets in the last over to restrict SNGPL to 283-8. Nasir was the pick of the bowlers with three for 45 with Junaid and Saad taking two wickets apiece.

Meanwhile, Grade-II umpire Rasheed Memon was given Rs300,000 on his retirement.

Scoreboard

SUI NORTHERN GAS PIPELINES LIMITED: Mohammad Hafeez c Ayub b Saad    58 Taufiq Umar c Tanzeel b Saad    79 Azhar Ali b Junaid    33 Umar Akmal c Ayub b Tanzeel    9 Misbah-ul-Haq c Azmat b Junaid    34 Khurram Shehzad lbw b Nasir    42 Mohammad Rizwan c Sohaib b Nasir    15 Bilawal Bhatti b Nasir    0 Yasir Shah not out    1 EXTRAS (B-4, LB-1, W-7)    12 TOTAL (for eight wkts, 50 overs)    283 FALL OF WKTS: 1-125, 2-165, 3-181, 4-200, 5-233, 6-282, 7-282, 8-283. DID NOT BAT: Samiullah Khan Niazi, Asad Ali. BOWLING: Junaid Khan 10-1-57-2 (1w); Rana Naved-ul-Hasan 7-0-50-0 (1w); Nasir Malik 10-0-45-3; Zulfiqar Babar 9-0-49-0; Sohaib Maqsood 4-0-33-0; Hafiz Saad Nasim 8-0-34-2 (2w); Tanzeel Altaf 2-0-10-1 (2w). WATER AND POWER DEVELOPMENT AUTHORITY: Riffatullah Mohmand b Asad    7 Hafiz Saad Nasim b Asad    1 Sohaib Maqsood c Rizwan b Yasir    57 Ali Azmat c Rizwan b Khurram    39 Aamir Sajjad b Yasir    29 Mohammad Ayub Dogar not out    66 Rana Naved-ul-Hasan run out    1 Tanzeel Altaf b Asad    8 Zulfiqar Babar c Bilawal b Hafeez    9 Junaid Khan b Asad    18 Nasir Malik not out    2 EXTRAS (B-1, LB-1, W-12)    14 TOTAL (for nine wkts, 50 overs)    251 FALL OF WKTS: 1-7, 2-8, 3-108, 4-125, 5-158, 6-159, 7-180, 8-191, 9-239. BOWLING: Samiullah Khan Niazi 7-0-25-0; Asad Ali 10-3-37-4 (1w); Mohammad Hafeez 9-0-58-1 (1w); Bilawal Bhatti 7-0-39-0 (1w); Yasir Shah 10-0-50-2; Khurram Shehzad 7-0-40-1 (1w). RESULT: Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited won by 32 runs. UMPIRES: Ahsan Raza and Shozab Raza. TV UMPIRE: Saleem Badar. MATCH REFEREE: Anwer Khan. OFFICIAL SCORER: Salman Siddiqui. MEDIA SCORER: Waseem Abbas. MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Asad Ali.