KARACHI: Emerging youngster Babar Azam scored an unbeaten fifty as Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) overwhelmed Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) by eight wickets in their Group B opener of the Advance Telecom Ramadan T20 Cup 2013 here at the National Stadium on Sunday night. The 18-year old Babar smashed a career-best 77* to enable ZTBL to achieve the 156 runs target with two balls to spare after losing only two batters in the process. The right-hander from Lahore hit three sixes and six fours in his match-winning 54-ball innings. After losing skipper Imran Nazir for a first ball duck when he was caught brilliantly by Taufeeq Umar at short mid-wicket, it was Babar who consolidated the innings by adding 39 runs for the second wicket with opener Sharjeel Khan who cracked a fiery 23-ball 32 with a six and five boundaries before being bowled by young pacer Bilawal Bhatti. ZTBL at this stage were 44-2. Babar then went on to add 112 runs from 81 balls for the third wicket unbroken association with Hussain Talat who smashed 40-ball 37 not out with three fours and a six to make the bankers home in the end. Bilawal Bhatti claimed 1-27 in his four overs while Khurram Shehzad, who removed Imran Nazir, took 1-28 in four overs. Earlier, after being invited to bat first, SNGPL, who had to struggle for runs, were restricted to 155-6 in the stipulated 20 overs. Ali Waqas smashed 41 with four 4s and a 6. At one stage when SNGPL were 105-4 in 15.1 overs, it was Imran Khalid who played a quick-fire 26 from just 12 balls to enable his side post a fighting total in the end. Khalid cracked two sixes and three fours before being trapped lbw by Test discard Mohammad Khalil after dominating the 36 runs partnership for the fifth wicket with Ali Waqas. Earlier on in the innings, after Azeem Ghumman’s early fall on ten, skipper Taufeeq Umar (23) and Azhar Ali (16) also failed to play a big innings before Ali Waqas’s solid knock coupled with Khurram
Shehzad’s 16-ball 20 and the subsequent blitz from Imran Khalid guided SNGPL to a defendable total. The 36-year old medium fast Rehan Riaz got 2-26 that also included the prized scalp of Taufeeq Umar. Left-arm Test pacer Mohammad Khalil (1-23) and Tahir Mahmood (1-30) were the other wicket-takers. Babar Azam was declared man-of-the-match. ZTBL were scheduled to meet Port Qasim Authority (PQA) in their next game on Monday night. As many as ten departments of the President’s Trophy are featuring in the competition. From Group A, Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) and Habib Bank Limited (HBL) have already qualified for the semi-finals to be held on July 23 and 24. The final will be played on July 25. This is the first time the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) is holding the event with the collaboration of the Geo Super and Jang Group.
