Finance, Freight, Travel and Maersk Lions qualified for the semifinals of the Kanoo Inter Division League. Finance will now take on Maersk Lions and Travel will meet Freight for a shot in the final. This is the first time in 15 years that P&IP has failed to qualify for the knockout stage. In the last week matches, Maersk Lions defeated Freight by 38 runs, Travel routed P&IP by 8 wickets and Finance overran Commercial by 6 wickets. Maersk downs Freight Maersk Lions raced to 63 after losing their opener. The other opener Azeem (42) who got good support from Nawab (16) and Asad (42) enabled their team post aof 138-5 in 15 overs; but not before Freight's bowlers Imran (3-29) and Hameen and Mushtaq (one wicket each) rocked the Maersk Lions. In reply, though Freight lost a wicket early Hameen (18) and skipper Jayasuriya (33) kept the scoreboard ticking. Later Nasir (14) and Imran (19 n.o.) played sensibly but the accurate Maersk Lions bowling attack did not give them any freedom as Asad (2-28), Ashfaq (2-31)and Shamun, Nabil and Shoaib (one wicket each) restricted Freight to 120-7. Freight thus qualified for the semis for the first time. Man of the Match: Asad of Maersk Lions. Travel dumps P&IP P&IP batsmen Imtiyaz (23) and Liyakat (21) accelerated the innings by rotating the strikes. They were well supported by Noor (14) and Vasi (22 n.o.). Travel bowlers Ranil (2-26) and Salman and Shammi (one wicket each) applied the brakes on P&IP's scoring, thanks to their fielders who were involved in two run outs that restricted P&IP to 122-6. In response, Travel won by 8 wickets as Aleem (14), skipper Arif (36 n.o.), Shammi (36) and veteran Ranil (20 n.o.) achieved the target in just 12 overs. Man of the Match: Shammiraj of Travel. Finance sinks Commercial Finance put up an opening stand for 86. Openers Merchant (21) and Sami Khan who smacked 123 runs with 7 fours and 12 sixes flogged the helpless Commercial bowlers all over the ground. Then Nabil (35 n.o.) and Thabrez (19) contributed well to post a mammoth 232 in 15 overs. Commercial bowlers Sujeeb (2-42) and Abubacker (1-52) toiled hard. In reply, Commercial kept losing wickets in quick succession. However good contribution came from teenager Haja 39, who was well supported by Nasif (18) and Sujeeb (14). The team was bundled out for 135. Jerome and Nabil claimed two wickets each along with Ehtesham, Thabrez and Indikha (one wicket). Man of the Match: Sami Khan of Finance.
