KARACHI: Inspirational efforts from Kashif Bhatti and Mohammad Irfan Jr on Wednesday spurred Fata to a sensational three-run win that has virtually vanquished Islamabad’s hopes of reaching the National T20 Cup semi-finals in Multan.

The 10th day of the tournament at the Multan Cricket Stadium, curiously enough, provided the rare instance of the man-of-the-match award being split in both fixtures. While Kashif and Irfan jointly shared the Rs25,000 award, the same scenario was replicated in the late afternoon game when Mohammad Nawaz and Hammad Azam built a partnership of 48 to see Rawalpindi over the line Peshawar by four wickets.

After having lost the first two matches, Fata are now very much in running for the last-four stage — with Karachi Whites, the only side to win four out of five fixtures, and are now guaranteed a knockout berth following the outcome of Wednesday’s games — by virtue of chalking up three straight victories as they swapped places with Multan to move second on net run-rate in the eight-team standings with Rawalpindi moving to fourth.

Fourth loss puts Islamabad on verge of elimination

After being sent in by Imad Wasim, Fata had huffed and puffed to only 106-7 after 17 overs. The next two overs yielded a further 16 runs but the last over of the innings unfolded real drama when Kashif, who isn’t a bunny when it comes to scoring crucial runs, thrashed four boundaries and a six as Pakistan paceman Junaid Khan went for 24 runs.

Kashif, coming in at No.9, bludgeoned 34 from just a dozen deliveries with the aid of six fours and one six while putting 40 priceless runs in 14 balls with Irfan (9 off 5).

Islamabad, in reply, batted steadily through their innings and should have wrapped up the match but for Irfan who not only gave away just three singles — including a leg-bye — but critically castled both Sohail Khan (10) and Arsal Sheikh (0), while leaving Iftikhar Ahmed stranded on a 38-ball 32 at the other end.

Pakistan discard Iftikhar, in fact, failed in his bid to clear the field on the penultimate ball of the match as Irfan darted in a low full toss that produced only a single run.

The 24-year-old Irfan, who has really come of age in the ongoing event as a reliable bowler in the death overs, grabbed three wickets for 24 runs to extend his haul at the top of the list to 15 victims.

Meanwhile in the other game, Peshawar, who were asked to bat by Umar Amin, recovered from 77-4 at the start of the 12th over to collect 153-4 chiefly because of the unbroken stand of 76 between Saad Ali (46 off 38 balls, four boundaries) and Mohammad Waqas (32 off 23, two sixes and one four) after openers Mohammad Mohsin (25 off 19, two sixes and one four) and Fawad Khan (30 off 24, two sixes and two fours) had laid a strong platform of 51.

On completion of the 15th over, Rawalpindi faced a tall order at 109-6 but Nawaz, playing his first game after returning from the South African league, and Hammad calmly steered them home with two balls to spare.

Both men scored 37 with Nawaz striking two fours in his 30-ball knock and Hammad hitting four boundaries during his 20-ball innings.

Wednesday’s results:

Rawalpindi bt Peshawar by four wickets.

PESHAWAR 153-4 in 20 overs (Saad Ali 46 not out, Nabi Gul 32 not out, Fawad Khan 30, Mohammad Mohsin 25; RAWALPINDI 157-4 in 19.4 overs (Hammad Azam 37 not out, Mohammad Nawaz 37 not out, Sami Aslam 25, Zahid Mansoor 20; Mohammad Mohsin 2-25, Waqas Maqsood 2-29).

Fata bt Islamabad by three runs.

FATA 146-7 in 20 overs (Kashif Bhatti 34 not out, Samiullah Jr 29, Adil Amin 27, Sohail Akhtar 21; Ahmed Bashir 2-18); ISLAMABAD 143-8 in 20 overs (Iftikhar Ahmed 32 not out, Rohail Nazir 27, Imad Wasim 24; Mohammad Irfan Jr 3-24).

Thursday’s fixtures: Lahore Whites vs Peshawar (11:00am); Lahore Blues vs Fata (3:00pm).

Published in Dawn, December 20th, 2018