LAHORE: Fast bowlers Aqib Khan and Naqeebullah took five wickets each to bowl WAPDA to an unexpected 35-run victory over SNGPL in the President’s Trophy final on Wednesday.

Aqib and Naqeeb, who had picked up two wickets each when play ended on the fourth day with SNGPL comfortably placed at 181 for four in pursuit of a 245-run target, pulled the rug from under the feet of the batters with some aggressive, hostile and accurate bowling as the star-studded SNGPL were bundled out for 209.

Aqib returned figures of 14-2-56-5, and Naqeebullah recorded figures of 20.1-5-59-5.

SNGPL’s slide of six for 28 on the penultimate morning when another 64 runs were required for the title reminded of their 37 all-out against PTV while chasing 40 for victory in a fourth-round encounter.

Aqib began a perfect day for a young and emerging WAPDA when he dismissed Mubasir Khan, who managed to add one run to his overnight score of 21. In the following over, Naqeebullah dismissed Omair Bin Yousuf, who also added one run to his last evening’s score of 62.

The departures of the overnight batters Omair and Mubasir opened the floodgates as Naqeebullah and Aqib ran through the SNGPL batting to bring a maiden President’s Trophy title for WAPDA. Only Awaz Zafar, batting at No. 7, was the batter to reach double figures, scoring 12 off 25 balls.

Naqeebullah, who had also taken three for 20 in the first innings, was named player of the final.

Scores in brief (day 4 of 5):

WAPDA beat SNGPL by 35 runs, Gaddafi Stadium (Target: 245)

WAPDA 265 all-out (Ayaz Tasawar 57, Bismillah Khan 56, Imran Dogar 38, Mohammad Ammar 31; Aamir Jamal 4-67, Shehzad Gul 3-69, Shahnawaz Dahani 2-33) and 96 all-out (Shahnawaz Dahani 4-23, Mohammad Ali 4-26)

SNGPL 117 all-out (Azan Awais 48, Naqeebullah 3-20, Mohammad Zeeshan 3-47, Aqib Khan 2-29) and (overnight 181-4) 209 all-out (Omair Bin Yousuf 63, Abdul Samad 39, Mohammad Rizwan 23, Mubasir Khan 22; Aqib Khan 5-56, Naqeebullah 5-59)

Player of the final – Naqeebullah (WAPDA)

Best Batter of the Tournament – Abdullah Fazal (SBP)

Best Bowler of the Tournament – Muhammad Hamza (KRL)

Player of the Tournament – Ghazi Ghori (SBP)

Best wicketkeeper – Bismillah Khan (WAPDA)