Karachi : Under the organisation of the Sports Journalists Association of Sindh (SJAS), the final of the Diamond Jubilee Inter-Media Independence Day Cricket Championship, was played at NBP Sports Complex Karachi between 24 News HD and SJAS Red. The skipper of 24 News Javed Iqbal, chose the bat, after winning the coin-toss and hammered a stiff target, of 217, for SJAS Red to chase.  Abdul Rahman and Ghazanfar Baloch were splendid in their show and contributed heavily to the 24 News final tally.  Abdul Rahman could not complete his half century by just one run. His innings include nine fours while Ghazanfar Baloch remained unbeaten on 48 runs with seven fours and a six. Zahid Ghafar bowled well for his two wickets for 42 runs in four overs.

In chase of the target SJAS Red fell short by 25 runs, scoring 191 for eight wickets in the stipulated over. Huzufa Khan’s aggressive innings of 42 off 26 balls went in vein. Zahid Ghaffar (28), Arshad Wahab (22) and Asghar Azeem (17) were the other prominent scorers for SJAS. Ghazanfar Baloch and Habib Khan, of the winning team, bagged three wickets each by giving away 19 and 40 runs respectively.

At the end of the final, Senior Vice President and Head of Sports Wing Kamran Khalid, Anwar Farooqi, Manager of NBP Sports Complex, Secretary General of Pakistan Sports Writers Federation Asghar Azeem, SJAS President Asif Khan, Senior Vice President Mehmood Riaz, Secretary Shahid Usman Satti, NBP Media Coordinator Sports Azmat ul Allah Khan, former Director Sports KDA Ayaz Munshi, Sports Organiser Mohammad Nasim and former cricketer Javed Iqbal distributed prizes on the occasion. Senior Sports Journalist Zubair Nazeer Khan, Nadra Mushtaq, Olympian Khalid Paracha and video analyst of the national hockey team Abuzar Umrao were also present. Happy to see a platform, in the name of SJAS, which engages sports journalists to express their skills on a cricket field.

Ghazanfar Baloch was the best player of the match and championship best batter, Zahid Ghafar, Adeel Zuberi best bowler and Kashif Farooqi was declared the best wicketkeeper of the event.

Published in The Daily National Courier, January, 20 2023

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