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Mujtaba, 91, helps Pakistan lift SAARC trophy

Dhaka, Feb. 28: Favourites Pakistan A lifted the 3rd SAARC Crick- et Trophy beating holders India A by virtue of better run-rate in the rain-marred final at the Dhaka Stadium today.

The final match between the two arch rivals earlier began at 10.40 a.m. (local time), 85 minutes late due to heavy fog in the morning with the ti e reduced to 44 overs.

Put to bat first, Pakistan, A were all out for 199 runs in 43.2 overs wit h skipper Asif Mujtaba top scoring with 91 runs in 104 balls. Mujtaba was caught 9 runs short of his maiden SAARC centu- ry, but his captain's knock won him the Man of the Match award. He also received the Man of the Tournamen t award for his prolif- ic batting in the competition.

In reply, India A managed to score 124 runs losing 5 wickets in 31 overs with a S. Sarath and S. Prasad batting on 35 and 3 runs respectively. But then the Dhaka afternoon sky gave in and poured 2 mm rains in 10 minutes that halted the match. Finally, the last showdown had to be abandoned, putting a gloomy end to the four- nation biennial meet which opened on Feb. 19.

Pakistan A were declared champions according to the run-rate as holders India A were still 39 runs short of the asking runs in 31 overs. India needed 163 runs in 31 runs to win the match on bet- ter run-rate.

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina Wajed distributed the trophies as chief gues t at a simple ceremony. Chief Patron of the meet For- eign Minister Abdus Sam ad Azad, State Minister for Youth, Sports and Culture Obaidul Kader and Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) President Saber Hossain Chowdhury MP were present on the occa- sion. At a post-match briefing, Pakistan A's team mana ger Zaheer Abbas, a legendary batsman, called their total 199 runs as de- fendable. ``Our bowlers would have defended it if the match had gone for 44 overs,'' he said.

Replying to a question, Zaheer said they took the meet as a test- ing groun d for the future Pakistani cricketers. His Indian coun- terpart, a disappoint ed Krishnamachari Srikkanth, called the rain ``stupid'' and said: ``we were in good chance to win the match.'' However, former Indian Test opener Srikkan th, in his first assignment, felt very happy as his boys had done an ``ex- celle nt'' job throughout the meet.

Pakistan had a poor start when opener Azam Khan (2) offered an easy catch to Waseem Jaffar at mid-off playing paceman Sarkar with the score on 9 in th e 2nd over.

Other paceman Mohanty forced one down Mohammad Waseem (4) to edge a catch to wicketkeeper Prasad in the 9th over as Pakistan added another 20 to the total. Spinner Noel David claimed his two of the three wickets as Pakista n slided to 85 for 4 wickets in 20 overs. David got rid of aggressive opene r Akhtar Sarfaraz (31 in 47 balls), caught by the wicket-keeper, in the 18t h over and dis- missed Basit Ali (2) in his next over.

Asif Mujtaba, coming to the crease with the fall of Mohammad Waseem, halt ed the slide sharing 82 runs for the 5th wicket with Mujahid Jamsheed (26 in 29 balls). But David struck again in the 30th over for his third wicket and Jamsheed, who hit three fours, gave a simple catch to H. Singh at cover w ith Pakistan on 137.

The next five Pakistani batsmen were out with the addition of 32 runs as skipper Mujtaba missed the maiden SAARC century for nine runs.

Mujtaba was awarded Man of the Tournament by Bangladesh sports Journalist s Association (BSJA) and Bangladesh Sports Writers and Journalists Communit y (DSWJC).

Bangladesh Sports Writers Association (BSWA), however, adjudged Indian pa cer H. Singh as their man of the tournament.

Pakistani skipper Mujtaba, who made five hits to the fence, was out as th e last man giving a catch to Khurasiya off spinner S. Sarath in the second ball of the final over.

Mohammad Hussain was the other notable scorer with 18 runs in 25 balls.

N. David finished with 9-0-32-3, H. Singh and S. Sarath grabbed two wicke ts each while opening bowlers D. Mohanty and A. Sarkar took the others.

Chasing the Pakistan total, India A lost their first wicket of G. Khoda (16), who made a thick edge to wicketkeeper Yousafi playing speedster M. Zahid with the team total 33 in 12 overs.

Medium-pacer Azhar Mahmood clean bowled the other opener W. Jaf- far (15) i n the 18th over with the score on 69 runs. He also dismissed H. Badani (1) in the next over with India adding anoth- er 8 runs.

Azhar Mahmood struck again to get rid of skipper Khurasiya, who made 27 w ith four successive boundaries, three of them off Zahid. Left handed Khurasiy a edged a catch to wicketkeeper Yousafi with India five short of 100.

S. Bahutule (3), who joined left-handed S. Sarath, was run out in the 30t h over going for a second run.

Sarath, who contributed an unbeaten 64 against Bangladesh in their dream chase for the final berth, remained unbeaten on 35 with five fours before rain forced him to pack.