Ali Niazi bats his way into record books

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KARACHI, April 4: Mohammad Ali Niazi scored the first double century in the domestic limited-overs cricket in this country on Monday as Pakistan Customs thrashed DHA by 171 runs in the Patron’s Cup Pool ’B’ one-day match at the Jinnah Stadium in Sialkot. Ali Niazi, a 22-year-old right-hander from Multan, bludgeoned 207 to help Customs amass a huge 395 for five – the highest ever total in one-day competition in Pakistan – in their 50 overs after winning the toss.

The opener struck as many as 24 fours and six sixes during his 146-ball knock that virtually dwarfed everything.

His record-breaking effort eclipsed the previous highest score in a domestic one-day match when Sajid Ali, the ex-Pakistan opener, blasted 197 for National Bank some years ago.

Ali Niazi was in dominant form as he put on 121 for the second wicket with skipper Azhar Shafiq (37 off 51 balls) and the third-wicket stand of 155 with another left-hander Naseem Khan (64 off 71 balls, seven fours).

Taking advantage of Ali’s blistering innings, Afsar Nawaz helped himself to 55 off only 21 deliveries, striking four fours and three sixes.

Left-arm medium-pacer Stephen John claimed five for 58 as the luckless DHA folded up for 224 in reply.

Customs comfortably head group standings with two straight victories.

Scoreboard

PAKISTAN CUSTOMS:

Kashif Siddique lbw b Nasir                            7
M. Ali Niazi c Farrukh b Azam                    207
Azhar Shafiq c and b Iqbal Imam                   37
Naseem Khan b Nasir                                   64
Afsar Nawaz not out                                     55
Kamran Hussain c sub b Atif                           0
Shahid Siddique not out                                  0
EXTRAS (B-6, LB-5, W-7, NB-7)              25
TOTAL (for five wkts, 50 overs)                 395
FALL OF WKTS: 1-32, 2-153, 3-308, further details not available.
DID NOT BAT: Hanif Malik, Murtaza Hussain, Stephen John, Majid Majeed, (Imran Ali).
BOWLING: Rajesh Ramesh 8-0-66-0 (1w); Nasir Khan 8-0-80-2 (7nb, 2w);
Rizwan Saeed 1.4-0-14-0; Atif Maqbool 9-0-81-1 (2w); Mohammad Farruh 0.2-0-2-0 (1w);
Azam Hussain 8-0-64-1; Iqbal Imam 8-0-41-1 (1w); Rizwan Qureshi 7-0-36-0.

DHA:
Asif Zakir lbw b John                                  59
Agha Sabir c Hanif b John                            0
Mohammad Farrukh lbw b John                 15
Wasim Naeem c Afsar b John                      9
Aamir Iqbal c Kamran b Afsar                    64
Iqbal Imam b Murtaza                                10
Rizwan Qureshi c Kashif b Majid                40
Azam Hussain b Ali Niazi                              2
Atif Maqbool c Majid b John                        8
Rizwan Saeed not out                                   4
Rajesh Ramesh c sub b Afsar                       3
EXTRAS (LB-2, W-2, NB-6)                    10
TOTAL (all out, 49 overs)                         224
FALL OF WKTS: 1-5, 2-39, 3-80, 4-89, 5-104, 6-183, 7-188, 8-216, 9-218.
DID NOT BAT: (Nasir Khan).
BOWLING: Kamran Hussain 4-0-36-0; Stephen John 10-0-58-5 (4nb, 1w); Imran Ali 7-0-23-0;
Murtaza Hussain 9-0-23-1; Majid Majeed 10-0-48-1; Azhar Shafiq 2-0-8-0;
Mohammad Ali Niazi 5-0-20-1 (2nb, 1w);Afsar Nawaz 2-0-6-2.
UMPIRES: Ijaz Ahmed and Iftikhar Malik.
MATCH REFEREE: Abdul Sami Khan.

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