KARACHI: Previously tainted Pakistan paceman Mohammad Amir made a fairytale entry into the major realm of domestic cricket when he claimed a wicket with the first legitimate ball he delivered in the Cool & Cool presents Haier Super 8 T20 Cup on Monday.

The opening fixture of the competition at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad saw Rawalpindi Rams seal a six-wicket victory over Abbottabad Falcons.

Playing for the Rams, the 23-year-old Amir started with a wide but bowled Falcons opener Sajjad Ali with the very next ball for a duck.

But the left-armer was taken off after bowling one over as Rams skipper Sohail Tanvir — who had elected to field first in the Pool ‘A’ fixture — opted for Mohammad Asghar, who took the wicket of acting Falcons captain Yasir Hameed with the third ball for five.

Amir then bowled another wide when he replaced Sohail at the other end but the match was held by rain with the Falcons reaching 26-2 in four overs. After play resumed after a while, the Falcons made smooth progress reaching 87-2 in the 13th over.

But followed was a total mayhem as Hammad Azam, playing his first competitive game since the start of February while battling fitness issues, grabbed career-best figures of 4-12 in three overs to clinch the man-of-the-match award.

The Falcons lost eight wickets for 22 runs in 36 balls after left-handers Fakhar Zaman and Adnan Raees — the only Falcons men to enter double figures — had added 64 in 59 deliveries for the third wicket. Fakhar struck Mohammad Nawaz’s occasional left-arm spin for successive sixes in scoring a 37-ball 46 also included four boundaries. Raees made 34 off 37 balls with one four and one six.

Amir returned to dismiss Mohammad Nasim to finish with 2-15 while slow left-armer Asghar took 2-21.

The Rams chase was not as smooth as they lost four wickets in the process. Naved Malik set the tempo by blasting three sixes and four fours in a 25-ball 39 while Zahid Mansoor hit an unbeaten 32 (29 balls, three fours and one six).

At the time of filing this report, Sialkot Stallions were playing Peshawar Panthers in the opening Pool ‘B’ game.

Scoreboard

ABBOTTABAD FALCONS:

Yasir Hameed c Nawaz b Asghar 5

Sajjad Ali b Amir 0

Fakhar Zaman c Naved b Zahid 46

Adnan Raees c Amir b Hammad 34

Kamran Ghulam st Jamal b Asghar 3

Waqar Orakzai run out 3

Khalid Usman b Hammad 8

Shakeel Ahmed c Naved b Hammad 0

Mohammad Naeem b Amir 3

Ahmed Jamal c Tayyab b Hammad 0

Ehtesham Sultan not out 0

EXTRAS (W-6) 6

TOTAL (all out, 19.1 overs) 109

FALL OF WKTS: 1-5, 2-23, 3-87, 4-92, 5-95, 6-100, 7-100, 8-108, 9-108.

BOWLING: Sohail Tanvir 2-0-12-0 (2w); Mohammad Amir 2.1-0-15-2 (3w); Mohammad Asghar 4-0-21-2 (1w); Samiullah 4-0-25-0; Mohammad Nawaz 2-0-19-0; Zahid Mansoor 2-0-5-1; Hammad Azam 3-0-12-4.

RAWALPINDI RAMS:

Mohammad Nawaz st Waqar b Khalid 9

Naved Malik c and b Kamran 39

Tayyab Riaz b Kamran 10

Zahid Mansoor not out 32

Umar Waheed lbw b Fakhar 7

Sohail Tanvir not out 10

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-2) 3

TOTAL (for four wkts, 17 overs) 110

FALL OF WKTS: 1-18, 2-51, 3-66, 4-96.

DID NOT BAT: Hammad Azam, Jamal Anwar, Samiullah, Mohammad Amir, Mohammad Asghar.

BOWLING: Khalid Usman 4-1-18-1; Kamran Ghulam 4-0-21-2; Shakeel Ahmed 4-0-39-0; Ahmed Jamal 1-0-13-0; Fakhar Zaman 3-0-15-1; Yasir Hameed 1-0-1-0.

RESULT: Rawalpindi Rams won by six wickets.

UMPIRES: Nadeem Iqbal and Qaiser Waheed.

TV UMPIRE: Ghaffar Kazmi.

MATCH REFEREE: Musaddeq Rasool Khan.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Hammad Azam.

Published in Dawn, May 12th, 2015

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