RAWALPINDI: Larkana and Lahore Blues made light work of their Group ‘A’ opponents on day one of the qualifying round matches in the Cool & Cool presents Haier National T20 Cup at the Pindi Cricket Stadium here on Tuesday.

Inspired by a brilliant 37-ball 74 from Asif Babar, Larkana thrashed Quetta by seven wickets in the opening fixture before Lahore Blues whipped Azad Jammu Kashmir by 82 runs in a lop-sided game.

At the time of filing this report, Karachi Blues were playing Fata in the first Group ‘B’ match.

Watched by a handful of spectators, the tournament got off to a lukewarm beginning on a hot day.

After choosing to bat first, Quetta collected 141-4 in their stipulated quota. The mainstay of their innings was wicket-keeper Bismillah Khan who slammed 79 from 56 balls. His knock included eight fours and one six.

With the pitch on the slow side, the batsmen struggled to find the boundaries but Bismillah batted aggressively with good support coming from Rameez Raja (21) and captain Jalat Khan (17).

Left-arm spinner Ali Asghar was the best of Larkana bowlers with excellent figures of two for 23 runs from his four overs, while seldom giving batsmen room to score freely.

It was then Asif’s turn to dominate when Larkana launched their chase. Zafar Ali (17) and Javed Bhutto (27, four boundaries) provided a fine start of 39 before Jalat trapped wicket-keeper/batsman Zafar.

Asif, adjudged man-of-the-match, then joined Javed to add 20 when spinner Mohammad Irfan dismissed Javed. But Asif batted brilliantly to plunder five sixes and five fours to steer Larkana home with 21 balls to spare.

In the second match, Lahore Blues were just two good for the inexperienced Azad Jammu Kashmir. After posting 151-4 once skipper Adnan Akmal had won the toss, it was a one-way traffic.

Openers Sami Aslam (30 off 30 balls, four fours) and Imam-ul-Haq (45 off 40, four fours) put on 59 in the first nine overs before Mohammad Akhlaq played a blazing innings of 51 from only 32 balls. He hammered three sixes and two fours and was involved in a second-wicket partnership of 61 with Imam.

Azad Jammu Kashmir, needing a good start to stand a chance of creating an upset, slumped to 22-4 in the sixth over. Pakistan hopeful Zia-ul-Haq, who toured with the senior national limited-overs side to Sri Lanka recently, ripped out the openers.

The young left-armer sent Raja Naeem for a duck and Usman Maroof for 11. In between those dismissals, Ataullah cleaned up Naveed Malik for one before having Shehzad Iqbal caught behind for no score.

Off-spinner Salman Agha chipped in with three wickets in the middle overs for just 17 runs to ensure a big win for the Blues which duly arrived when Azad Jammu Kashmir were bowled out for 69 in the 15th over with just Irfan Talib (22) and Hasan Raza (15) becoming the only other batsmen to reach double figures.

Akhlaq was adjudged man-of-the-match.

Tuesday’s qualifying-round results:

Group ‘A’:

Lahore Blues beat Azad Jammu Kashmir by 82 runs.

LAHORE BLUES 151-4 in 20 overs (Mohammad Akhlaq 51, Imam-ul-Haq 45, Sami Aslam 30); AZAD JAMMU KASHMIR 69 in 14.4 overs (Irfan Talib 22; Salman Agha 3-17, Zia-ul-Haq 2-11, Ataullah 2-16).

Larkana beat Quetta by seven wickets.

QUETTA 141-4 in 20 overs (Bismillah Khan 79 not out, Rameez Raja 21; Ali Asghar 2-21); LARKANA 142-3 in 16.3 overs (Asif Babar 74 not out, Javed Bhutto 27).

Wednesday’s fixtures: Bahawalpur vs Dera Murad Jamali (12:00noon); Lahore Blues vs Quetta (4:00pm); Larkana vs Azad Jammu Kashmir (8:00pm).

Published in Dawn, September 2nd, 2015

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