Shahid Nazir Helps HBL Clinch The Faysal Bank National One Day Tournament
Habib Bank of Pakistan (HBL) clinched its second huge title of the current domestic season as it defeated National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) by 64 runs in the final of the Faysal Bank National One Day Tournament 2010-11 Division One. HBL is also the current
champion of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, which is an elite first-class tournament in Pakistan.
At the Qaddafi Stadium, Lahore, Fawad Alam won the toss for NBP and chose to bowl first. It did not turn out to be a great decision as the experienced batting lineup of HBL posted a big score of 273 runs on the board for the loss of nine wickets in the allotted
50 overs. HBL faced a big setback on the very first ball of the match when Test star Imran Farhat was run out by Hammad Azam. However, the middle order batsmen took control of the situation and stabilised the ship for HBL.
Young left hander Shan Masood remained the top scorer for HBL as he scored 76 runs off just 81 balls with the help of seven boundaries. Test cricketer Saleem Elahi also shined with a brilliant 63 off 90 balls with the help of six fours. Humayun Farhat, Hasan
Raza and Kamran Hussain also played impressive cameos to create the much needed momentum for their team.
Uzair ul Haq was the pick of the bowlers for NBP as he took four crucial wickets after giving away 55 runs in his nine overs. Mohammad Talha also grabbed a couple of wickets but he was quite expensive and ended up giving away 70 runs in his 10 over spell.
Chasing a big target in the final, NBP was in trouble from the beginning. They lost four top order wickets for just 44 runs on the board. Fawad Alam played a captain’s knock but it was not good enough to take his team to victory. NBP was bowled out for 209
runs in the 44th over of the innings.
Fawad Alam scored 82 runs off 97 balls which included eight boundaries; however he failed to get any support from his batting line-up. Test fast bowler, Shahid Nazir, was the one responsible for destroying NBP’s hopes as he took four vital wickets at the
top of the innings and gave away only 22 runs in his seven overs. Spinners, Danish Kaneria and Mohammad Aslam, grabbed a couple of scalps each to help their team’s cause.
Shahid Nazir was named Player-of-the-Match for his outstanding spell with the new ball. Imran Farhat was named Best-Batsman of the tournament whereas Mohammad Talha and Uzair ul Haq were jointly awarded Best-Bowler.
HBL has always been one of the best teams in Pakistani domestic cricket, as they have proved this season with consecutive victories in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2010-11 and the Faysal Bank National One Day Tournament. It is quite a commendable performance
considering the fact that the senior players of HBL, like Younis Khan, Shahid Afridi and Ahmed Shehzad, were not able to take part in the limited overs tournament because of the national duties.
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