ARAF will meet the winners of today's second semifinal between Bashundhara and Beximco in the May 21 final.

In front of four thousand screaming fans, the biggest turnout for the first-ever competition for corporate houses, the dashing Pakistani right-hander blasted a 35-ball 71 as ARAF handed GrameenPhone a crushing five-wicket defeat at the Banga-bandhu National Stadium yesterday.

The match turned into a no-contest when Afridi's power hitting and another aggressive knock by his compatriot Fahad Ullah saw ARAF romp past GrameenPhone's modest 218-9 with more than 15 overs to spare.

In a match where three out of four guest players did the talking with the bat, Pakistan's Imran Nazir was the only disappointment. The opener's contribution was only five for GrameenPhone total that relied on Indian middle-order batsman Romesh Powar's 79-ball 69.

But ARAF got money value from their two foreign recruits.

Coming into at number four with ARAF at 42-2, Afridi led a kind of assault he is feared for. But his innings could not have taken off had umpire Mahabub Ullah not spotted the batsman clearly out of his crease.

Afridi came down the wicket to smack left-arm spinner Tahmim Bashir out of ground but missed it completely. Every GrameenPhone player started celebrating after wicketkeeper Nuruzzaman whi-pped the bails off but to their dismay the square leg umpire was unmoved.

After being gifted the life in the very first ball Afridi just got into his stride and smashed half a dozen sixes and as many fours. Mahmud Ullah was given a shock and awe treatment by the Pakistani livewire, who plundered an amazing 27 runs in one over of the young spinner that included three sixes and two boundaries.

When Afridi thunder was over, ARAF were conformably placed at 137-3 in 18.2 overs.

Fahad Ullah was also not to be denied his share of the glory. The prolific right-hander, who scored a hundred and a fifty in the last two games, kept up his amazing run spree with an unbeaten 84 off 78 balls.

He finished the chase in grand style hoisting a straight six off GrameenPhone skipper Tushar Imran in the fifth ball of the 35th over.

Fahad struck three sixes and six fours in his fluent knock.

The Pakistani batsman however cast a critical eye on the performances of the local cricketers on either side dismissing them as 'chicken-hearted' in Urdu.

It was a harsh yet fair statement considering that the fact that apart from the three foreigners there were hardly any notable contribution from the locals in the match.

"Afridi made the job very easy but the local players almost made a mess of it. I felt that the Bangladeshi players lacked courage," said the 26-year-old from Karachi after the match.