KARACHI: Former champions Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) ended Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC)’s unbeaten run by demolishing the pool leaders within two days of their fifth-round Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship clash in Faisalabad on Sunday.
The fixture at the Iqbal Stadium not just saw Misbah-ul-Haq’s men seal an eight-wicket victory but also put SNGPL in pole position to overtake SSGC in Group ‘A’ with two rounds still remaining before the Super Eight phase begins. SNGPL’s fourth win earned them nine points to take them one shy of SSGC’s tally 39.
Just like Saturday’s opening day — during which 17 wickets went down — Sunday provided another flurry of 15 wickets falling. After overhauling SSGC’s first-innings total of 129 by extending their overnight score from 104-7 to 144 all out, SNGPL required only 25.3 overs to dismantle SSGC’s second innings for a paltry 74.
Test seamer Mohammad Abbas and Azizullah claimed three wickets to lead the rout before SNGPL knocked off the 59-run target for the loss of two wickets.
National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) are in dominant position after reducing defending champions Wapda to 181-9 after the bankers had themselves posted 314 all out at the Pindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi.
Faisalabad, who have lost all four matches in the championship thus far, struggled to 127-4 in response to hosts Islamabad’s 386 at the Diamond Club Ground. Fahad Iqbal excelled for Islamabad by making 104 (off 154 balls, 15 boundaries) while paceman Naseer Akram starred for Faisalabad with figures of 5-122.
Lahore Blues are on verge of victory after a dramatic second day against Peshawar at the Abbottabad Cricket Stadium in Abbottabad.
After being bowled for 148 in response to Peshawar’s 181, Lahore Blues hit back swiftly to dismiss their rivals for 65 in the second innings with former Pakistan paceman Aizaz Cheema capturing six wickets for 23 runs to finish with match bag of 10-65.
Requiring just 100, Lahore Blues were 1-0 when play was called for the day owing to fading light.
Karachi Whites, meanwhile, enjoyed another fruitful day against Rawalpindi in their Group ‘B’ match here at the National Stadium.
After adding exactly 100 to their overnight score of 75-3 to earn a handy lead of 52 runs on the first innings, Karachi Whites had Rawalpindi on the run at 140-7 in the latter’s second innings.
The pace duo of Nazar Hussain and Haseeb Azam, older brother of Pakistan discard Hammad Azam, equally shared the 10 Karachi Whites, while Mohammad Sami accounted for three more Rawalpindi batsmen to extend his haul in this game to eight victims.
Fata mustered 135 all out to enable Lahore Whites enjoy a 105-run advantage on the first innings at the LCCA Ground in Lahore. The home side then swelled its lead to 186 by making 81-1 by close of play.
Despite leading by 106 runs on the first innings against Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), Habib Bank Limited (HBL) nosedived to 97-8 to set up an intriguing finish to their clash at the Multan Cricket Stadium in Multan.
KRL, who resumed at 14-2, soon found themselves 36-5 before recovering partially to 106 all out. Pace-bowling all-rounder Ammad Butt claimed three further wickets to end up with 5-26.
Saad Ali led a brilliant United Bank Limited (UBL) resurgence against Pakistan Television (PTV) at the Jinnah Stadium in Sialkot by hitting up an unbeaten 140.
Responding to PTV’s 312, UBL were jolted upfront as Umar Siddique (0), captain Shan Masood (18) and the returning Umar Akmal (6) all perished with just 34 runs on the board.
The left-handed Saad, who adorned his 127-ball knock with 23 fours, then joined Akbar-ur-Rehman (65 off 81 balls, eight fours) to add 160 for the fourth wicket to put Group ‘B’ leaders in control.
Close of play scores on Sunday (day two of four):
Fifth round:
Group ‘A’:
At Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad: SNGPL beat SSGC by eight wickets.
SSGC 129 in 41.3 overs (Awais Zia 45; Asad Ali 4-38, Mohammad Abbas 2-28, Azizullah 2-29) and 74 in 25.3 overs (Sami Aslam 19; Mohammad Abbas 3-10, Azizullah 3-17, Hussain Talat 2-21, Asad Ali 2-25); SNGPL 144 in 46 overs (Ali Waqas 45, Taimur Sultan 27; Ahmed Jamal 9-50) an 63-2 in 27.1 overs (Imran Butt 25).
At Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi: NBP 314 in 92.3 overs (Bilal Asif 84, Rameez Raja 64, Kamran Ghulam 50, Raza Hasan 37 not out, Haris Ali Khan 28; Zahid Mansoor 2-23, Mansoor Amjad 2-44, Zulfiqar Babar 2-77); WAPDA 181-9 in 55.1 overs (Mohammad Saad 45 not out, Salman Butt 39, Zahid Mansoor 33l Raza Hasan 4-43, Hazrat Shah 3-66, Mushtaq Ahmed 2-24).
At Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad: ISLAMABAD 386 in 113.1 overs (Fahad Iqbal 104, Ali Sarfraz 54, Shahid Yousuf 50, Shehzad Azam Rana 46, Hamza Nadeem 33; Naseer Akram 5-122, Atif Jabbar 3-78); FAISALABAD 127-4 in 34 overs (Atiq-ur-Rehman 29 not out, Raees Ahmed 25).
At Abbottabad Cricket Stadium, Abbottabad: PESHAWAR 181 in 48.1 overs (Gohar Ali 68, Jamaluddin 38, Israrullah 31; Saad Nasim 4-32, Aizaz Cheema 4-42) and 65 in 24.5 overs (Gohar Ali 22; Aizaz Cheema 6-23, Saif-ur-Rehman 2-18, Bilawal Iqbal 2-21); LAHORE BLUES 148 in 44.2 overs (Tayyab Tahir 60, Irfan Haider 29; M. Imran Khan 5-71, Shah Faisal 3-28) and 1-0 in 0.2 over.
Group ‘B’:
At National Stadium, Karachi: RAWALPINDI 123 in 55.3 overs (Behram Khan 43, Shaharyar Ghani 27; Mohammad Sami 5-32, Adel Malik 4-32) and 140-7 in 60 overs (Sohail Tanvir 30 not out, Umar Waheed 26, Shaharyar Ghani 23, Behram Khan 20; Mohammad Sami 3-40, Adeel Malik 2-33); KARACHI WHITES 175 in 50.4 overs (Faisal Iqbal 45, Azam Hussain 31; Haseeb Azam 5-52, Nazar Hussain 5-62).
At LCCA Ground, Lahore: LAHORE WHITES 240 in 79.1 overs (Mohammad Mohsin 53, Usman Salahuddin 46, Mohammad Irfan 45, Ameer Hamza 38; Asif Afridi 5-68, Asif Ali 3-40) and 81-1 in 30 overs (Rizwan Hussain 40 not out, Anas Mahmood 25); FATA 135 in 50.4 overs (Asif Ali 36, Mukhtar Ahmed 27; Mohammad Irfan 4-31, Waqas Ahmed 4-44).
At Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan: HBL 212 in 74.3 overs (Azeem Ghumman 62, Jamal Anwar 50; Ahmed Bashir 4-53, Sadaf Hussain 3-36, Ali Shafiq 2-29) and 97-8 in 51.3 overs (Jamal Anwar 38 not out; Ali Shafiq 3-8, Sadaf Hussain 3-37); KRL 106 in 25.1 overs (Nayyar Abbas 37; Ammad Butt 5-26, Umar Gul 2-51).
At Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot: PTV 312 in 106 overs (Adnan Mahmood 124, Hasan Raza 42, Raheel Majeed 37, Mohammad Irfan 29 not out; Mir Hamza 7-68, Sohail Khan 2-87); UBL 261-4 in 44 overs (Saad Ali 140 not out, Akbar-ur-Rehman 65, Sohaib Maqsood 24; Tabish Khan 2-63).
Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2017