KARACHI: Pakistan Television (PTV) were on verge of regaining first-class status after Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) were reduced to 118-7 in their second innings on the penultimate day of the Patron’s Trophy Grade-II Cricket Tournament final in Islamabad on Monday.
Chasing 232 on a lively Diamond Club Ground pitch, ZTBL — who were shot out for 96 in their first innings on Sunday — again found the going tough and would need a miracle of sorts to pull off a highly unlikely victory on Tuesday’s fourth and final day.
Barring Waqas Saleem (32 off 49 balls, six boundaries) and Ali Nasir (27 off 46, four fours) and to some extent Shakeel Ansar (16), ZTBL batsmen never applied themselves in their desperation to play first-class cricket next season.
PTV, earlier, added another 148 runs to their overnight tally of 38-2 before being dismissed for 186. Zohaib Ahmed was the top-scorer with a 64-ball 36 while Sarmad Bhatti (23) and Fawad Khan (26) also made useful contributions.
Bilawal Iqbal claimed four wickets for 34 runs in 17.1 overs but his heroics went wasted when his side batted later in the day against Hamza Nadeem who followed up his 5-27 on Sunday with three more wickets with fellow paceman Rizwan Akbar grabbing two and all-rounder Hasan Mohsin picking up the vital scalp of fit-again Pakistan left-hander Haris Sohail.
The winners of this fixture will participate in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship next season.
Scoreboard
PAKISTAN TELEVISION (1st Innings) 141 (Sarmad Bhatti 41, Raheel Majeed 26, Mohammad Irfan 26; Imran Khan 4-38, Sajjad Hussain 3-46, Bilawal Iqbal 2-29).
ZTBL (1st Innings) 96 (Shakeel Ansar 36; Hamza Nadeem 5-27, Rizwan Akbar 3-39, Zohaib Ahmed 2-19).
PAKISTAN TELEVISION (2nd Innings, overnight 38-2):
Mohammad Naeem c and b Bilawal 0
Raheel Majeed b Sajjad 13
Sarmad Bhatti c Usman b Imran 23
Mohammad Irfan c Shakeel b Imran 14
Hasan Raza Jr lbw b Bilawal 16
Fawad Khan b Usman 26
Zohaib Ahmed c Shahid b Bilawal 36
Hasan Mohsin c Haris b Sajjad 19
Samiullah lbw b Bilawal16
Hamza Nadeem c and b Usman4
Rizwan Akbar not out0
EXTRAS (B-9, LB-5, W-3, NB-2)9
TOTAL (all out, 60.1 overs) 186
FALL OF WKTS: 1-11, 2-31, 3-54, 4-67, 5-109, 6-109, 7-151, 8-171, 9-186.
BOWLING: Imran Khan 19-4-62-2; Bilawal Iqbal 17.1-3-34-4 (1w); Sajjad Hussain
17-4-42-2 (2nb, 2w); Usman Qadir 7-2-34-2.
ZTBL (2nd Innings):
Shahid Yousuf c Raheel b Rizwan4
Gohar Ali c Naeem b Hamza5
Haris Sohail c Sarmad b Hasan9
Waqas Saleem b Hamza32
Shakeel Ansar c Naeem b Zohaib16
Ali Nasir c Naeem b Hamza27
Umar Javed not out7
Bilawal Iqbal c Fawad b Rizwan2
EXTRAS (LB-9, W-1, NB-6)16
TOTAL (for seven wkts, 36.4 overs)118
FALL OF WKTS: 1-10, 2-10, 3-17, 4-50, 5-68, 6-98, 7-118.
BOWLING (to-date): Hamza Nadeem
13.4-3-33-3 (3nb); Rizwan Akbar 11-2-32-2; Hasan Mohsin 5-1-21-1; Zohaib Ahmed
5-0-20-1 (3nb); Samiullah 2-2-0-0.
Published in Dawn, April 11th, 2017