KARACHI: Asad Abbasi produced a brilliant spell of spin bowling to help Sindh High Court (SHC) Greens lift the 3rd Inter-judicial cricket title with a convincing six-wicket win over SHC Larkana in the final at the National Stadium here on Saturday.

Having been winners in the previous two editions, SHC Greens overhauled SHC Larkana’s tally of 167-7 comfortably with three overs to spare in the 22-over title-deciding fixture.

Farhan Khan led the chase by striking five boundaries and one six in making 44 from 28 balls. Vinod Ramesh, brother of former first-class player Rajesh Ramesh, hit a 20-ball 38 with five fours.

But it was young Asad who stole the limelight by grabbing five wickets for 30 runs to play a big part as SHC Larkana lost their way from being 100-1 at one stage. The main scorers for Larkana side were Saleem Ahmed (58 off 43 balls, five fours), Aashiq Abbasi (run-a-ball 40, two fours and one six) and Waqar John (37 off 21, seven boundaries).

Chairman of SHC employees’ cricket team, Hono­urable Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi, who was the chief guest at the final, distributed prizes to outstanding performers of the competition.

SHC Greens skipper Nusrat Ali received the winners’ trophy with SHC Larkana captain Wasim Soomro claiming the runners-up trophy.

Asad was presented with the man-of-the-final award while his team-mates Moha­mmad Ibrahim and Abdul Hameed Rathore were declared the event’s best wicket-keeper and bowler, respectively. Manzoor Maqsood of SHC Blues won the best batsman prize.

The match was watched by honourable judges of the Sindh High Court, namely Justice Zafar Ahmed Rajput, Justice Junaid Ghaffar, Justice Zulfiqar Ahmed, Justice Arshad Hussain, Justice Yousuf Ali Sayeed.

Summarised scores:

SHC LARKANA 167-7 in 22 overs (Saleem Ahmed 58, Aashiq Abbasi 40, Waqar John 37; Asad Abbasi 5-30, Sajid Pecheo 1-22); SHC GREENS 168-4 in 19 overs (Farhan Khan 44, Vinod Ramesh 38, Sajid Pecheo 20 not out, Asad Abbasi 20; Mashooq Hussain 1-8).

Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2017