On a belter of a National Stadium in perfect cricket weather, both sides crossed 300 — a phenomenon that was inconspicuously missing during the badly truncated league stage of the tournament held in Rawalpindi, Islamabad and Peshawar — before Karachi Whites cantered to a 70-run victory to await the winners of the second semi-final — between Karachi Blues and Peshawar on Tuesday — in Friday’s final. The first ex-Pakistan man to dominate was Shahzaib Hasan, who now few may still remember as a World Twenty20 winner with Younis Khan-led Pakistan side in 2009, with a swashbuckling knock of 171 that set the tone for the Whites to reach a colossal 375-6 — comfortably the highest one-day total this season. Islamabad, in turn, made a brave attempt to put up a decent fight before late order collapse derailed their aspirations for a first success over Karachi. With the run-rate, understandably mounting all the time, Shan Masood batted uncharacteristically to score a stroke-filled 136 until he was fifth out at 256. Thereafter, Islamabad were left with the Herculean task of scoring at a rate that even the best in the business would have struggled to attain over the remaining 11.5 overs. Cashing in on the batting side’s predicament, former Under-19 World Cup winner and the third of the Pakistan discards Anwar Ali returned for a final burst to grab five wickets for the first time in his List A career. Luck generally favours the brave and it certainly sided with Shahzaib emphatically in this game. He was caught off a Shehzad Azam Rana no-ball on 31 after having witnessed his opening partner Arsalan Bashir falling to a sensational one-handed catch at point by Shan who went airborne to hold the ball. Shahzaib was in savage mood and looked on course for a double century when he went across too far to paddle Hamza Nadeem behind but lost his wicket after having bludgeoned as many as seven sixes and 18 boundaries. Had he not been dismissed as early as 39.2 overs, Karachi Whites were even eyeing topping the 400-run mark, a point their head coach and former Pakistan paceman Saleem Jaffer made afterwards. “It was quite achievable when Shahzaib was hammering the ball to all parts of the ground. The pitch was just too good for batting and I think, in hindsight, bowling first [after Islamabad had won the toss] made no difference at all,” the soft-spoken Saleem observed while talking to Dawn. “The best part is we are through to the final where Karachi Whites will be hard to beat if the boys play with the same intensity they exhibited today.” Shahzaib had previously made four one-day hundreds and none were bigger than 135. National selector Tauseef Ahmed must have gone home overly impressed by what he saw as the 27-year-old right-hander make yet another statement to win a recall to the Pakistan side after being out of it since November 2010. Skipper Akbar-ur-Rehman helped himself to an 85-ball 58 (three fours) while wisely allowing Shahzaib to take charge during their second-wicket partnership of 162 in 165 deliveries. Saad Ali then stroked four fours and three sixes in a sublime 45-ball effort of 61 as he played second fiddle to the opener in the third-wicket stand of 83 in 57 balls.
Anwar then thrashed four more sixes and a four in scoring a feisty 45 from only 28 balls, while the 40-year-old Tariq Haroon blasted an 18-ball 31 to put the match beyond Islamabad’s reach. And despite Shan showing rare aggression — a virtue the 27-year-old left-hander has not displayed thus far at the Test level, Islamabad lacked the powerful strikes to seriously worry Karachi Whites. The game-changing moment arrived in the sixth over of the daunting chase when the in-form Ahmed Shehzad, who otherwise batted in positions other the customary opening post, was well taken in the cover by Anwar for 15 Despite the negativity surrounding his batting approach, Shan was able to surpass his best one-day score of 108 — for his employers United Bank against National Bank in the preceding departmental event — as he struck 15 boundaries and a brace of sixes. Shan was involved in two noteworthy partnerships; he added 99 in 94 balls for the second wicket with Abid Ali (59 off 53 balls, five fours and one six) before Abid was spectacularly run out by a direct throw from the midwicket region by Tabish Khan. Faizan Riaz (29) helped Shan put on 91 in 77 balls when Anwar held another well-judged catch in the deep before spinner Azam Hussain forced a tired-looking Shan to play across the line and win a leg-before-wicket verdict. The rest of the game then belonged to Anwar, who claimed five wickets for 19 runs in 4.1 overs to end up with 5-49, while usurping his old best of 4-37.