Afridi, Ibrahim steer A O to KG quarters

KARACHI: Shahid Afridi’s usual belligerence and Ibrahim Qureshi’s onslaught powered A O Clinic into the quarter-finals of the 20th Karachi Gymkhana Ramazan Festival Cricket Tournament 2005 here at the Karachi Gymkhana Cricket Ground.

In fact A O Clinic also emerged the Group A champions by defeating Malir Gymkhana by five wickets in their clash on Friday. While A O Clinic sailed into the knockout stage with three straights wins, Rashid Latif’s Malir Gymkhana will have to overpower Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) in their last league outing.

Rashid, a former Pakistan captain, opted to bat first against A O Clinic in the 22-overs-a-side encounter. The electrifying 60-run opening stand between Khurram Manzoor (37 off 19 balls) and Abid Hanif (41 off 19 balls) provided them the platform for a huge total.

Farhan Adil (28 off 24 balls) and Rashid Latif (32 off 25 balls) kept up the momentum but Malir Gymkhana lost their way in the closing overs. Hasan Raza fetched him three wickets while off-spinner Iqbal Sheikh also picked up three wickets to bowl Malir Gymkhana out for 172 inside 22 overs.

The brisk medium-pace of Ali Gohar created problems for the A O Clinic batsmen and they lost a couple of wickets inside five overs of power play.

Afridi came in to bat with his side struggling at 32-2. He started off quietly from his own standards but it didn’t take him long to start using the long handle.

Having struck two sixes and a four in the previous over, he came charging down the wicket to left-arm spinner Salman Fazal. The ball turned across his bat and he was neatly stumped by Abid Hanif. It brought life to Malir Gymkhana as the master blaster was dismissed for 30 off 16 balls. Hasan Raza made 44.

It took a whirlwind knock of 31 off just 10 balls from Ibrahim Qureshi to turn the tide in favour of A O Clinic. After having blasted two sixes and four fours, he was caught in the deep trying to hoist Rashid.

The damage had been done by then and A O Clinic romped him with nine deliveries and five wickets standing.

Nice to see afridi practicing some 6's

Yeah hes just warming up i think. Inshallah theres a lot more to come.

is there a scorecard available?

He's a magnificent beast, it's always great to hear news of his butchery, thanks Waquas. Australia and to a greater extent India have both recently had their bowling attacks mutilated by Afridi, Inshallah England will taste this unique, incapacitating pain.

Despite the fact that is 22 over a side, Raza has made runs and top scored once again!

scorecard?