KARACHI, Sept 24: Rizwan Qureshi excelled with both bat and the ball as Fazal-ur-Rehman Sports defeated Aga Khan Gymkhana by three wickets in the opening match of the inaugural Mehdi Hasan KCCA Inter-club cricket tournament at the AKG Ground here on Sunday.

The left-handed all-rounder first grabbed four wickets for 50 runs with his slow left-armers before contributing 45 with the bat. Also excelling was Ahmed Hussain who struck 98 off 84 balls that included seven boundaries and three sixes as Fazal-ur-Rehman Sports totalled 239-7 to win with seven deliveries to spare.

Earlier, KCCA president Prof Syed Sirajul Islam Bukhari inaugurated the tournament in a simple ceremony which was also attended by M. Irfan Shaikh, Javed Ahmed Khan and a large number of KCCA and zonal officials, including Asif Mehdi son of late Mehdi Hasan who served the KCCA as its honorary treasurer.

Summarised scores: AGA KHAN GYMKHANA 235-6 in 40 overs (Murtaza Majeed 64s, Saleem A. Raheem 51, Malik Hussain 39, Hussain Ali 32; Rizwan Qureshi 4-50); FAZAL-UR-REHMAN SPORTS 239-7 in 38.5 overs (Ahmed Hussain 98, Rizwan Qureshi 45, Malik Asif 27 not out; Hussain Ali 4-39.—Sports Reporter