LAHORE, April 25: Shoaib Akhtar, the Pakistan fast bowler, returned to active cricket after a long layoff with a five-wicket burst to help Rawalpindi Rams decimate Quetta Bears by 96 runs in the opening match of the Twenty20 Cup at the LCCA ground on Monday.

Man-of-the-Match Shoaib, who is bidding to regain place in the national squad for the forthcoming West Indies tour, finished with five for 23 in four overs as the Bears were all out for 101 in 16.3 overs while chasing 198.

Earlier, the Rams made 197 for eight in 20 overs with opener Raheel Majeed (45 off 27 balls with eight fours and one six), Ameer Khan (42 off 23 balls with six fours and one six) and Pervez Aziz (an unbeaten 36 off 23 balls with three fours) being the main scorers.

Scoreboard

RAWALPINDI RAMS:

Raheel Majeed b Jalat 45

Bilal Asad c John b Arun Lal 25

Ameer Khan c Asif b Jameel 42

Naved Qureshi lbw b Jalat 0

Fayyaz Ahmed b Jameel 10

Shoaib Akhtar b Naseer 4

Pervez Aziz not out 36

Rao Iftikhar c Jalat b John 24

Sohail Tanvir run out 1

EXTRAS (B-3, LB-3, W-2, NB-2) 10

TOTAL (for eight wkts, 20 overs) 197

FALL OF WKTS: 1-40, 2-83, 3-83, 4-112, 5-131, 6-133, 7-194, 8-197.

DID NOT BAT: Jawwad Hameed, Sajid Mahmood.

BOWLING: Stephen John 4-0-33-1; Arun Lal 4-0-48-1; Naser Khan 4-0-40-1; Jalat Khan 4-0-48-2; Jameelur Rehman 4-0-22-2.

QUETTA BEARS:

Shoaib Khan c Anwar b Shoaib 13

Abdul Majeed b Shoaib 8

Nasim Khan c Ameer b Shoaib 12

Mohammad Aslam lbw b Shoaib 1

Mohammad Asif c Sohail b Rao 12

Jalat Khan c Sajid b Shoaib 0

Naseer Khan c Bilal b Jawwad 25

Arun Lal run out 0

Stephen John c Bilal b Jawwad 4

Sanaullah not out 6

Jameelur Rehman run out 4

EXTRAS (LB-2, W-12, NB-2) 16

TOTAL (all out, 16.3 overs) 101

FALL OF WKTS: 1-20, 2-33, 3-38, 4-39, 5-39, 6-81, 7-81, 8-91, 9- 93.

BOWLING: Shoaib Akhtar 4-0-23-5; Rao Iftikhar 4-0-22-1; Sohail Tanvir 1-0-3-0; Naveed Qureshi 3.3-1-0-34-0; Jawwad Hameed 4-0-17-2.

RESULT: Rawalpindi Rams won by 96 runs.

UMPIRES: M. Nazir Jr and Zamir Haider.

MATCH REFEREE: Saadat Ali.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Shoaib Akhtar.