KARACHI:Karachi and Abbottabad made it to the final after close encounters in the semifinals of NBP T-20 Blind Cricket Trophy Grade-2 here on Thursday. Karachi took on Multan whereas Abbottabad faced Quetta.
The first semifinal was played between Karachi and Multan at Afza Cricket Ground. Multan won the toss and elected to field first. Wali Ullah and Shahzad Iqbal made their contribution with the bat and scored 53 and 45 runs. Karachi accumulated 242-6 in 20 overs.
Multan’s openers Ghulam Akbar and Muhammad Safdar started their inning smashing Karachi bowlers all over the ground scoring 14 runs per over in the first 10 overs. But then Karachi made a comeback when they got the wicket of Muhammad Safdar after he was stumped by Shahzad Iqbal on 78. Tahir Ali took a sharp catch of Ghulam Akbar and brought Karachi close to the line. In the end, Multan fell one run short of the target. Abdul Wahab took two wickets for Karachi.
The second semifinal also proved to be thrilling encounter between Abbottabad and Quetta played at Afza Cricket Ground. Quetta put Abbottabad bat first after winning the toss. Abbottabad’s Riasat Khan and Naeem Ullah made 199 runs for the first wicket. Riasat fell short of a hundred and went back to the pavilion scoring 92 off 35 balls. Naeem Ullah stood on unbeaten 131 hitting 15 boundaries and took the score to 276 for the loss of four wickets.
Quetta in reply managed to score 269/5, felling only eight runs short. Naseeb-Ullah’s fighting 149 couldn’t take his team over the line. His brilliant innings consisted 24 boundaries. Muhammad Adeel and Riasat Khan took one wicket each. Karachi will take on Abbottabad today (Friday) at TMC Cricket Ground.