PESHAWAR, April 29: Excellent batting by top order of New Delhi Cricket Association (NDCA)’s President XI helped the team to 32-run victory over Accountant General (AG) XI in the opening match of the five-match One-day “Dosti Series” between NWFP and New Delhi at Arbab Niaz Stadium on Friday. A colourful opening ceremony marked with traditional dances preceded the match. It took up so much time that the match had to be reduced to 30 overs.

Opener and skipper Varun Kumar who lost the toss and was asked to bat first, was the first to go after scoring only five runs, which included a boundary.

Opener Karan Rai and Aditya Jain, the No.3 batsmen, then raised the score to 135 hitting 129 runs in the third wicket partnership.

Rai was not out on 56 while Jain made 91 runs off 71 balls laced with 10 boundaries and four towering sixes.

Rai’s 56 runs off 64 balls were laced with four boundaries. Besides Rai and Jain, Puncet Bisht (16) and Tejaswi Yadav (10) were the only batsmen who added some runs, while others failed to click against AG XI bowlers.

The Indians set 209 runs target for the loss of seven wickets in the allotted 30 overs.

Spinner Ubaib took two wickets for 42 runs while left-arm medium fast bowler Bilal Afridi grabbed one for 38.

In reply, AG XI tumbled after scoring only 177 for six in the allotted overs. Opener Shahzad hammered 50, Kashif 32, Abdul Mateen 51 not out and Yasir Shah struck 20.

Pardeep Sagwan picked two for 18 while Rahul Mehta, Aditya Jain and Vijay Yadav grabbed one each to give their team 32-run win and one match lead in the five match series.

The remaining three matches will be played at Kohat, Mardan, and Abbottabad, while in the fifth the visitors face NWFP Region winners.