BAHAWALPUR: Peshawar, Bahawalpur, Islamabad, AJK beat their respective opponents to enter the semifinals of the National Bank of Pakistan T-20 Blind Cricket Trophy (Grade-1) here on Friday.

In the first match of the day, Bahawalpur overpowered Okara by six wickets. Bahawalpur won the toss and put Okara into bat who posted 128 for 6 wickets in allotted 18 overs. The match was reduced to 18 overs-a-side due to dense fog in the morning. Iftikhar Tiger roared with the bat with a brisk 50. Usman took 2 wickets In the second match, Lahore whipped Karachi by 94 runs at Sadiq Public School Ground.

Bahawalpur chased the target of 129 in 14.2 overs for the loss of 4 wickets. Babar remained unbeaten on 40* and Moeen Aslam scored 39. Badar and Fakhar Abbass took a wicket a piece.

Lahore batted first after winning the toss to score 266 for 9 in 20 overs. Lahore Captain Matiullah once again excelled with the bat to score 114 off 47 balls and Salman contributed 23 runs. For Karachi, Shair Ali and Tahir Ali shared one wicket each.

Peshawar beat Islamabad in the other match of the day. Peshawar won the toss and decided to bowl first. Islamabad posted 168 on the board for the loss of 3 wickets in 20 overs. Anees Javed once again played Captain’s innings with a brilliant 101 off 74 balls. Mohsin Khan took 3 wickets. In the last match of the day, AJK beat Gujranwala by 34 runs. AJK batted first and made 174 runs for loss of two wickets in allotted 15 overs. Nisar Ali scored 67 off 38 balls and Tehseen made 42 runs off 33 balls. Tayyab and Zubair took 1 wicket each.

Karachi in reply made 172 runs for the loss of 3 wickets in 20 overs. Waliullah made 73 runs and Tahir Ali scored 26 runs. Kamran and Karamat took a wicket a piece.

Peshawar in reply chased the target in only 14 overs without losing any wicket. Haroon Khan and Sanaullah remained unbeaten on 93* and 65* runs respectively.

In reply, Gujranwala made 140 for the loss of 5 wicket in allotted 15 overs. Israr Hassan was their top scorer with 26 runs and Tayyab made 24 runs. Nisar Ali took one wicket.

Published in Dawn, December 28th, 2019