LAHORE, March 31: Disciplined bowling followed by a brave 58-run unbroken stand for the ninth wicket between Yasir Ali and Mohammad Rameez led Rawalpindi Rams to a well-earned two-wicket win over Wapda in the Group ‘A’ Super Eight match of the ABN-Amro National One-day Cricket Championship at the LCCA Ground here on Monday.

Batting first, Wapda, having prolific Test batsman Mohammad Yousuf in their line-up, were restricted to a modest 201 all out in 47.4 overs by Rawalpindi Rams whose all bowlers were among the wickets with leg-spinner Babar Naeem remaining at the top with three for 50.

Rams, in response, had a fine open stand of 51 provided by Umar Amin (44) and Babar Naeem (28). However, the Rams’ innings descended alarmingly. From 51 for 1, they dropped to 108 for 4 before going down further to 147 for 8.

At this stage, Yasir (26 not out) and Rameez (27 not out) — the team’s number nine and ten – took guard. They resurrected Rams’ innings that was at the brink of an unexpected collapse. Playing with grit, they took the total, without further damage, to 205 for 8, with 5.1 overs to spare.

Both Yasir and Rameez had, earlier, picked one and two wickets for 30 and 48 runs respectively.

Earlier, Yousuf, leading Wapda, made a short appearance for just 10 minutes to face seven balls, scoring just four.

Aamir Sajjad (49, four fours, 81 balls) was the only noteworthy scorer for Wapda, who, despite getting an acceptable start of 46 through openers Sunny Irshad (30) and Nawaz Sardar (16), slumped to 104 for 4, before eventually being bowled out for 201.

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