KARACHI, Sept 18: The race for Karachi region title in the PCB Inter-district senior cricket championship gained momentum as Federal ‘B’ Area-New Karachi Zone put themselves in contention with an easy 84-run victory over Old Karachi Zone on Sunday.

Chasing a formidable 341, Old Karachi Zone were bowled out for 256 with Saad Umar remaining undefeated on a defiant 90 – a knock that contained seven fours and one six. The win put Federal ‘B’ Area-New Karachi Zone level on points with Liaquatabad-Gulshan Zone.

Liaquatabad-Gulshan, who had 14 points prior to the start of this round, went down by five runs against Malir-Shah Faisal Zone with spinners Azam Hussain (5-80) and Ariz Kamal (4-80) sharing the wickets.

Nazimabad-Asifabad Zone, as expected, completed a five-wicket win over North Nazimabad-Orangi Zone. Off-spinner Irfanuddin took all five wickets.

Summarised scores:

At TMC ground: Federal ‘B’ Area-New Karachi Zone beat Old Karachi Zone by 84 runs. FEDERAL ‘B’ AREA-NEW KARACHI ZONE 340-9 in 90 overs (Daniyal Ahsan 107, Naveed Khan 73, Fawad Alam 44); OLD KARACHI ZONE (Saad Umar 90 not out, Afsar Nawaz 46; Mohammad Ali Zafar 3-50, Naseer Khan 3-60.

At Students Sports ground: Malir-Shah Faisal Zone beat Liaquatabad-Gulshan Zone by five runs. MALIR-SHAH FAISAL ZONE 205 in 66.1 overs (Mohammad Farrukh 54); LIAQUATABAD-GULSHAN ZONE 200 in 50.1 overs (Wasim Naeem 52; Azam Hussain 5-80, Ariz Kamal 4-80).

At Asifabad Sports ground: Nazimabad-Asifabad Zone beat North Nazimabad-Orangi Zone by five wickets. NORTH NAZIMABAD-ORANGI ZONE 193 in 55.4 overs (Sarfraz Ahmed 40; Raheel Waris 4-48, Asad Butt 3-41); NAZIMABAD-ASIFABAD ZONE 197-5 in 69.4 overs (Iqbal Shaikh 58; Irfanuddin 5-72).

Our Sports Correspondent adds from Lahore: Not a single ball was bowled in the two matches of the Lahore region because of rains on Sunday.

Meanwhile, the Sialkot region match between Sheikhupura and Mandi Bahauddin was also washed out with the home team needing 10 runs with three wickets standing.

A fine century by opener Rizwan Sattar (104 retired) steered Multan to an eight-wicket win against Khanewal in the Multan region.

Summarised scores:

Lahore region:

At Railways Stadium: Match drawn. NORTH ZONE BLUES 296 in 69.5 overs (Kashif Rasheed 96, Adnan Butt 54, Khalid Hussain 53; Azhar Ali 5-76); EAST ZONE BLUES 65-1.

At Mughalpura Institute ground: Match drawn. WEST ZONE BLUES 275 in 84.5 overs (Rizwan Ahmed 56, S. Alam 62); WEST ZONE WHITES 7-0.

Sialkot region:

At Sheikhupura Stadium: Match drawn. MANDI BAHAUDDIN 125 (Suleman Ali 4 15); SHEIKHUPURA 116-7.

Multan region:

At Multan Cricket Stadium: Multan beat Khanewal by eight wickets.

KHANEWAL 273 (Maqsood Ahmed 56; Khurram Butt 5-69); MULTAN 274-3 (Rizwan Sattar 104, Zeeshan Khan 54).

Faisalabad region:

At Chenab College ground, JhangL Sargodha beat Jhang by six wickets.

JHANG 199 (Shabbir 56); SARGODHA 202-4 (Imran Ahmed 89). Aqeel shines with bat

Our Correspondent adds from Mirpurkhas: Aqeel Anjum hammered 251 as Mirpurkhas overwhelmed Badin by 336 runs in the Hyderabad region match.

Mirpurkhas amassed 518 for seven with Aqeel Anjum striking two sixes and 28 fours in his knock. Ahmed Nawaz Zahid scored 120.

Badin, in reply, capitulated for 182 with Tasawwar Zaman scoring 51.

In another match, Hyderabad defeated Dadu by 229 runs. Rizwan Ahmed led the way with an unbeaten 204.

Summarised scores:

Hyderabad region:

At PCB ground: Mirpurkhas beat Badin by 336 runs.

MIRPURKHAS 518-7 (Aqeel Anjum 251, Ahmed Nawaz Zahid 120, Taj Mohammad Wassan 40; Tasawwar Zaman 4-169); BADIN 182 (Tasawwar Zaman 51; Syed Rehan 4-72).

At Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad: Hyderabad beat Dadu by 229 runs.

HYDERABAD 447-8 (Rizwan Ahmed 204 not out, Zahid Khan 61, Faisal Athar 55); DADU 218 in 42.4 overs (Shahid Hussain 48; Shahnawaz Umrani 3-28, Nasir Owais 3-62).