Ton-up Fawad Alam helps Karachi to claim National ODI cup title
Resilient Fawad Alam once again hit back to his critics after scoring yet another century and steers Karachi whites to win the title of National ODI cup for regions.
Fawad Alam and Danish Aziz emerged as stars as both batsmen helps Karachi whites to chase huge total in all important final match against Islamabad. Islamabad regions captain Shan Masood won the toss and decided to bat first as quick fire of Babar Azam and Shahid Yousaf helps Islamabad to post 347 for the loss of 4 wickets in 50 overs.
Islamabad started off well and openers contributed 81 runs for the first wicket as Shan Masood fall prey on 51 runs. Islamabad in the mid of first innings, lost 3 wickets on 153 runs then comes the turn of Mr. reliable Babar Azam and Shahid Yousaf as both contributed 145 runs in 120 balls. Babar Azam scored 105 runs before he got out while Shahid Yousaf misses his century by 4 runs as he remained unbeaten on 96 runs with 9 fours and 2 sixes and Islamabad put a massive total on board for Karachi whites.
Mohammad Asghar, Asad Shafiq, Zia ul Haq and Danish Aziz all claims 1 wicket each for Karachi whites.
In the run chase, Karachi lost 2 early wickets on 38 runs then Akbar ur Rehman and Fawad Alam started building partnership and moved the score and contributed 96 runs for the third wicket partnership but Rehman got out on the total of 134. For the 5th wicket Fawad Alam and Danish Azim contributed 192 runs as before getting out on 149 runs in 130 balls, Fawad steers Karachi whites to a comfortable position. Danish Aziz struck the last nail in Islamabad’s coffin as he played a blinder of 86 runs in 65 balls with 4 fours and 6 sixes and played his role to chase down the massive total in 49.3 overs to win the match by 5 wickets.
Raza Hasan, Shehzad Azam, Nauman Ali, Ahmed Bashir and Hamza Nadeem picked up 1 wicket each from Islamabad.
Islamabad’s skipper Shan Masood 656 runs in 8 matches with an average of 109.33 as he hammered 2 centuries and scored 2 half centuries. He played the top innings of 182 runs in the tournament. Second in the line was Rawalpindi’s Iftikhar Ahmed as he scored 522 runs with 1 century and 5 half centuries with an average of 104.40 in 8 matches. His highest score was 123 runs. Fawad Alam from Karachi white remains 3rd as he scored 313 runs in 5 innings with an average of 104.33. He scored 1 century and 1 half century and his highest score was 149 runs. The only player who scored a double century was Abid Ali from Islamabad as he scored 209 runs.
Taj Wali from Peshawar Zia ul haq from Karachi picked up 14 wickets in 8 matches while Faisalabad’s Muhammad Imran also claimed 14 wickets in 7 matches.
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