INSURANCE ASSOCIATION OF PAKISTAN vs ADAMJEE INUSRANCE
(2ND CORPORATE CUP SEMIFINAL)
An exciting semifinal of the 2nd Corporate Cup was played between Insurance Association of Pakistan and Adamjee Insurance. A high scoring fixture reflected the enthusiasm of the teams to secure a place in the finals. Batting first Insurance Association of Pakistan had the ideal start. Farukh Shahid and Omer Ishtiaq displayed the best of stroke plays. Farukh scored 37 runs off just 23 balls. On the other end it was Omer stamped his authority with his bat. He scored 69 runs in just 45 balls. This opening stand allowed the rest of the batsmen to display their strokes in the limited time they had. Ahmed Nawaz provided an ideal lower order innings of 28 runs in just 17 deliveries. With this fierce display of batting Insurance Association of Pakistan posted a huge 190 for 5 on the board.
A semifinal, a pressure game and a huge target to chase. These were the factors which got the better of the Adamjee Insurance top order. With an opener out for a duck and the one down failing to reach double figures, a team can go haywire. But it was Nasir Khan and Mansoor Ahmed who steadied the ship with scoring 35 and 50 respectively. The rest of the batting order did chip in some valuable runs as well. Nawaz Khan bowled the spell of his life giving away only 15 runs in his 4 overs and claiming 2 wickets. Not often you see a number 8 and number 9 batsmen start an assault on the bowlers. But it was a sublime fightback by Shoib Ahmed and Usman Siddiqui who batted with strike rates of 200 and 229 respectively. Usman scored an unreal 39 off 17 balls but his efforts went in vain as Adamjee Insurance fell 10 runs short of their target.
Insurance Association of Pakistan won the game by 10 runs and cemented their place in the finals.