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ISLAMABAD, March 17: Ashar Zaidi shone with both bat and ball as Islamabad Leopards went storming into the Silver League final of the National One-day Regional cricket tournament with a nine-wicket rout of Quetta Bears at the Diamond Cricket Ground.
Put into bat, the Bears were restricted to only 145 with Ashar returning incredible figures of 4-1-9-3 and Afaq Raheem also picking up three wickets.
The Bears’ total revolved around Naseem Khan (57) and opener Shoaib Khan (46).
Ashar then followed up his superb bowling with an equally explosive knock of 90 not out off just 68 balls in which he belted 13 fours and two sixes. Atif Ashraf also did well with an unbeaten 40.
The batting exploits of the duo saw Islamabad overhaul the meagre total in the 21st over.
In making the final against Lahore Lions, the new Islamabad region performed outstandingly winning three of their matches with two being washed out.
The decider is set to be played on Sunday at the same venue.
Scoreboard
QUETTA BEARS:
Shoaib Khan lbw b Imad 46
M. Aslam c Ashar b Rauf 4
Naseem Khan b Afaq 57
Tariq Aziz st Raja b Imad 0
Abdul Hameed lbw b Ashar 6
Hameedullah c Ashar b Afaq 0
Ghulam Sarwar c and b Ashar 5
Faisal Irfan st Kashif b Ashar 0
Umar Ajmal st Kashif b Imad 10
Zahoor Ahmed lbw b Afaq 0
Azharullah not out 4
EXTRAS (B-1, LB-1, W-9, NB-2) 13
TOTAL (all out in 36.3 over) 145
FALL OF WKTS: 1-18, 2-112, 3-112, 4-124, 5-124, 6-130, 7-130, 8-132, 9-134.
BOWLING: Rauf Akbar 6-1-31-1 (2nb, 2w); Zohaib Ahmed 6-1-32-0 (2w); Mohammad Altaf 4-0-18-0 (2w); Imad Wasim 7.3-1-26-3 (2w); Afaq Raheem 9-1-27-3 (1w); Ashar Zaidi 4-1-9-3.
ISLAMABAD LEOPARDS:
Ashar Zaidi not out 90
Afaq Raheem lbw b Azhar 3
Atif Ashraf not out 40
EXTRAS (LB-1, W-7, NB-5) 13
TOTAL (for one wkt, 20.5 overs) 146
FALL OF WKT: 1-41.
DID NOT BAT: Bilal Asad, Ameer Khan, Fayyaz Ahmed, Mohammad Kashif, Mohammad Altaf, Zohaib Ahmed, Imad Wasim, Rauf Akbar.
BOWLING: Faisal Irfan 4-0-34-0 (4w); Azharullah 4-0-24-1 (1w) Zahoor Ahmed 5-0-42-0 (5nb); Umar Ajmal 6-0-26-0 (2w) Ghulam Sarwar 1.5-0-19-0.
UMPIRES: Javed Iqbal and Ahmed Shahab.
MATCH REFEREE: Ishtiaq Ahmed.
