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ISLAMABAD, Sept 21: Rawalpindi virtually qualified for the semifinals of the National Junior (Under-19) Grade-I Cricket Championship Saturday after picking up three first innings lead points against Bahawalpur at Rawalpindi Stadium.
Paceman Najaf Shah and Saad Altaf ran through the visitors’ batting, dismissing them for a paltry 89 in 38.5 overs after they had been put in to bat first.
Mohammad Asif Iqbal was the top scorer with 33 as Najaf, who took four for 29 and Saad Altaf who had three for 35, did not allow any batsman to settle down.
Rawalpindi then replied with 145 for four in 52 overs, a lead of 56 runs, by the close of the opening day. Waqas Zafar collected 30 runs while Osama Shabbir was unbeaten on 32 along with Usman Saeed who was not out 14.
Rawalpindi, who had 24 points going into this match, have a good chance of scoring an outright win provided the weather does not interfere.
Meanwhile, Islamabad had a poor first day in their game against Sheikhupura at Shalimar Ground.
Batting first, Islamabad crawled to 176 all out off 79.1 overs, a total in which Kashif Majeed scored 75. No other batsman could cope with the off spin of Salman Ali who troubled them all to return impressive figures of six for 46. Khaleel claimed three for just 10 runs.
Sheikhupura by the close looked well set to take first innings lead, finishing the day at 135 for three. Salman Ali, as he did with the ball, also shone with the bat, striking a fine 48.
*At Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi:
BAHAWALPUR 89 in 38.5 overs (Najaf Shah 4-29, Saad Altaf 3-35;
RAWALPINDI 145-4 in 52 overs (Waqas Zafar 30, Osama Shabbir 32 not out).
*At Shalimar Ground, Islamabad:
ISLAMABAD 176 in 79.1 overs (Kashif Majeed 75; Salman Ali 6-46, Khaleel 3-10);
SHEIKHUPURA 135-3 in 33 overs (Salman Ali 48).
*At Lahore Country Club, Muridke:
KARACHI BLUES 161 in 45.2 overs (Khurram Irshad 3-34);
LAHORE BLUES 163-5 in 47 overs (Fahad-ul-Haq 82).
*At Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar:
LAHORE WHITES 329-9 in 80 overs (Sohail Ahmed 134 not out, Raza Ali Dar 91; Abdul Nasir 4-97, Sheryar Khan 4-105);
PESHAWAR 20-0 in 8 overs.
*At PCB Regional Academy Ground, Karachi:
QUETTA 173 in 67.2 overs (Tabish Khan 3-36);
KARACHI WHITES 102-3 in 34 overs (Mansoor Ali 43 not out).
National Under-19 Grade-II Championship:
*At KCCA Stadium, Karachi:
KARACHI GREENS 309-4 in 80 overs (Tahir Aziz 106, Hasan Saud 49 not out, Ather Asad 49, Shahryar Farrukh 45);
SUKKUR 32-4 in 27 overs.
*D.I. Khan Stadium, D.I. Khan:
DERA ISMAIL KHAN 87 in 39.5 overs;
HARIPUR 209-5 in 53 overs (Babar Khan 78, Usman Sawati 63).
*At Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad:
LARKANA 116 in 42.4 overs (Farrukh Khan 4-9, Furqan Azeem 3-36);
HYDERABAD 85-5 (Salman Hyder 43 not out).
*Jinnah Stadium, Gujranwala:
GUJRAT 158 in 49.1 overs (Mohammad Ali 62; Rizwan Mustafa 3-23, Ali Imran 3-40);
GUJRANWALA 139-5 in 42 overs (Idrees Ahmed 50.
*At Mahmood Stadium, Rahimyar Khan:
169 in 53.3 overs (Adeel Basit 65; Umar Zaman 6-43);
MULTAN 207/6 in 47.3 overs (Yasir Arafat 98 not out).
*At Nawabshah Stadium, Nawabshah:
BADIN 273 in 79.5 overs (Imran Malik 86, Danish 40; Sharafat Ali 3-66).
