Ton-up Asif stars as Dolphins crush Zebras to make final

KARACHI: In almost a replica of the first semi-final the other day, Karachi Dolphins rode on a fine Asif Zakir century to trounce Karachi Zebras by nine wickets on Sunday to set up a Faysal Bank National One-day Cup final date with Peshawar Panthers.

Like the last-four clash on Saturday in which the Panthers whipped Lahore Lions by eight wickets, the National Stadium witnessed another game where one side virtually held sway over the other from the onset. At no point it looked that the Zebras, who maintained an unbeaten run during the group stage, would make things tough for the stronger of the two Karachi outfits.

And it turned exactly that way as the Dolphins made light work of their chase of 242 after captain Asif and fellow opener Fazal Subhan had taken full advantage of an insipid bowling line-up that the Zebras offered to plunder 189 in 152 balls before Fazal was dismissed.

Fazal, coming into the knockout round after just one run in three previous games, delighted a small crowd to a series of dazzling strokes as he hit 84 from 77 deliveries. The ex-Pakistan junior opener, who slammed six boundaries and a brace of sixes, was caught by Ashraf off Faraz Ahmed Khan.

Faraz and fellow slow left-armer Mohammad Ali bowled extremely well in the prevailing circumstances with each conceding less than five runs an over while bowling the full quota.

Asif, however, carried on merrily to complete a superb century before leaving he field with 117 against his name as the Tauseef Ahmed-coached Dolphins wrapped up the game with no less than 47 deliveries remaining unused. Asif’s fifth List-A ton, scored off 106 balls, was embellished with 15 crisply-struck boundaries to almost all parts of the vast field here at the National Stadium.

Mohammad Waqas (23 off 40 balls) took a brace on the onside off Zebras skipper Haris Ayaz to bring an end to the afternoon’s entertainment.

Earlier after put into bat, the Zebras did well to reach 241-9 after seemingly heading for a total below 200 when the fifth wicket went down at 118. Babar Hussain Agha contributed a well-constructed 79 with eight fours and three sixes being his chief scoring strokes in his 53-ball innings.

Apart from the impressive Babar, Ashraf Ali (34 off 36 balls, three fours and two sixes), the left-handed Abdul Jabbar (35 off 43, five boundaries) and Naved Khan (32 off 37, four fours) also got runs but they were all guilty of getting out to reckless shots.

Leg-spinner Shahzaib Ahmed Khan, the former Pakistan Under-19 representative, bowled to teasing line and length to snare four wickets for 36 runs in nine overs. All-rounder Babar Rehman’s sharp medium-pacers fetched him three for 46, also from nine overs.

Asif was the undisputed choice for the Rs25,000 Man-of-the-Match award.

The final between the Dolphins and the Panthers is set to be played on Tuesday, the last day of 2013.

Scoreboard

KARACHI ZEBRAS:

Ashraf Ali lbw b Babar 34

Fakhar Zaman c Waqas b Khurram 11

Abdul Jabbar c Asif b Shahzaib 35

Naved Khan b Shahzaib 32

Babar Hussain Agha c Fahim b Babar 79

Javed Mansoor c Hasan b Babar 0

Faraz Ahmed Khan c Fazal b Mir Hamza 29

Ali Mudassar c Saad b Shahzaib 2

Haris Ayaz lbw b Shahzaib 2

Mohammad Ali not out 14

Waqar Anwar not out 1

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-1) 2

TOTAL (for nine wkts, 45 overs) 241

FALL OF WKTS: 1-40, 2-48, 3-102, 4-117,

5-118, 6-174, 7-183, 8-195, 9-236.

BOWLING: Mir Hamza 9-0-45-1; Khurram Shahzad 7-0-40-1; Babar Rehman 9-0-46-3; Fawad Khan 8-0-50-0; Shahzaib Ahmed Khan 9-0-36-4 (1w); Fahim Ahmed 3-0-23-0.

KARACHI DOLPHINS:

Fazal Subhan c Ashraf b Faraz 84

Asif Zakir not out 117

Mohammad Waqas not out 23

EXTRAS (LB-7, W-11) 18TOTAL (for one wkt, 37.1 overs) 242

FALL OF WKT: 1-189.

DID NOT BAT: Saad Ali, Mohammad Hasan, Babar Rehman, Fahim Ahmed, Khurram Shahzad, Shahzaib Ahmed Khan, Fawad Khan, Mir Hamza.

BOWLING: Ali Mudassar 5-0-55-0; Waqar Anwar 7-0-38-0 (6w); Faraz Ahmed Khan

9-0-44-1; Haris Ayaz 7.1-0-56-0 (1w); Mohammad Ali 9-0-42-0.

RESULT: Karachi Dolphins won by nine wickets.

UMPIRES: Ghaffar Kazmi and Aftab Gillani.

TV UMPIRE: Sajid Afridi.