October 9, 2001	Tuesday	Rajab 21, 1422

Please Visit our Sponsor (Ads open in separate window)

KARACHI, Oct 8: New leaders PIA, after decimating Habib Bank last week, meet KRL in the pick of the fourth round matches in the Patron’s Trophy Grade-I National Cricket Championship from Tuesday.

KRL, who led the standings after two rounds, face a daunting challenge of stopping a resurgent PIA side which humiliated Habib Bank to 27 all out in the first innings on their way to a seven-wicket victory.

Even the presence of Shoaib Akhtar was not enough for KRL to prevent PWD taking first innings points in a high-scoring draw.

The temperamental fast bowler is likely to come up against his illustrious Pakistan team-mate Wasim Akram in the four-day clash at the LCCA Ground.

Wasim, though, is a doubtful starter as he is recovering from flu which prevented him bowling in Habib Bank’s second innings.

Habib Bank, meanwhile, will try to put up a much-improved performance when they take on Allied Bank at Sheikhupura. Both these teams have chalked up 15 points in the current championship.

National Bank after crushing reigning champions Pakistan Customs play PWD at Saga Ground in Sialkot.

Pakistan vice-captain Inzamam-ul-Haq is likely to play after missing the last game.

Sui Gas will be trying to overcome the trauma of that heartbreaking 50-run loss against ADBP in the previous round when they face Customs at Gaddafi Stadium. Sui

Gas’ medium-pacer Abdur Rauf had a dream match against ADBP with a haul of 14 wickets.

Third round schedule (Oct 9-12):

PIA v KRL at LCCA Ground, Lahore (Umpires: Athar Zaidi and Afzaal Ahmed. Match referee: Ali Zia).

National Bank v PWD at Saga Ground, Sialkot ((Umpires: Feroz Butt and Islam Khan. Match referee: Azhar Khan).

Pakistan Customs v Sui Gas at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore (Umpires: Shakeel Khan and Sadiq Mohammad. Match referee: Ashraf Ali).

Allied Bank v Habib Bank at Sheikhupura Stadium, (Umpires: Siddique Khan and Ehtesham-ul-Haq. Match referee: Taslim Arif).

ADBP v Wapda at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad (Umpires: Masroor Ali and Waqar A. Mughal. Match referee: Abdul Sami).

Standings

(Tabulate under matches played, won, lost, drawn, points):

PIA 3 2 0 1 27

KRL 3 2 0 1 24

National Bank 3 2 0 1 24

Habib Bank 3 1 1 1 15

Allied Bank 3 1 1 1 15

Pak PWD 3 1 1 1 15

Pakistan Customs 3 1 1 1 12

ADBP 3 1 2 0 9

Wapda 3 0 2 1 0

Sui Gas 3 0 3 0 0