Dar spin NBP in Naya Nazimabad Ramadan Cup semifinals

KARACHI :   Left arm spinner Raza Ali Dar captured four top wickets to spin National  Bank of Pakistan (NBP) into the last four grade of 5th Naya Nazimabad Ramadan Cup T20 Cricket Tournament with an exciting 12-run victory over Brighto Paints on Friday night.

 Experienced first class cricketer, Raza from Lahore finished with excellent figures of four wickets for 30 runs in four overs as Brighto Paints chasing 154 for victory was restricted to 141-8 in their 20 overs in the fourth quarterfinal here at Lawai Cricket Stadium.

      Zeeshan Ashraf battled hard for his 52 in 41 balls which included half a dozen of boundaries and brace of sixes. Raees Butt lofted two sixes in his 30. But rest of their batting struggled against Raza Dar.

           Earlier sent to bat first, NBP was bowled out for 153 with two balls of their 20 overs remaining. Ramiz Raja held their team’s innings together with fighting half century. He struck five boundaries and a six in his 50 off 43 balls knock.

         Ramiz got good support from Ahsan Ali, who smashed seven boundaries in his 35 after consuming 18 balls and Ali Asad hit two fours in his 24 off 21 balls.

Usman Aleem, Abdul Razzaq and Muhammad Asghar got two wickets each while veteran Test off-spinners Saeed Ajmal got one wicket.

Aqeel Karim Dhedhi, Chairman AKD Securities, who was chief guest, presented the Rs.10, 000 man of the match award to Raza Ali Dar.

Summarized scores:

NBP 153 all out in 19.2 overs (Ramiz Raja 50, Ahsan Ali 34, Ali Asad 24, Raza Ali Dar 15, Abdul Razzaq 2-15, Usman Aleem 2-25, Muhammad Asghar 2-26, Saeed Ajmal 1-29) Brighton Paints 141-8 in 20 overs (Zeeshan Ashraf 52, Raees Butt 30, Usman Nazir 15, Obaidullah 14, Saeed Ajmal 12, Raza Ali Dar 4-30, Raza Hasan 2-2-25)