KARACHI: Ghani Glass rode on Sharjeel Khan’s blistering century, Sui Northern Gas Pipelines (SNGPL) benefitted from the experience of Asad Shafiq and Azhar Ali while Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) relied on Rohan Qadri as the teams registered wins in their respective third-round matches of the President’s Trophy here across three venues on Sunday.
While Ghani Glass beat Pakistan Television by seven wickets to seal their first win of the tournament and move up to fourth in the seven-team tournament’s standings, SNGPL overcame State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) by six wickets to consolidate their position at the top. KRL, meanwhile, thrashed Higher Education Commission (HEC) by 120 runs and are placed third.
At the National Bank Stadium, Sharjeel added 34 runs to his overnight score of 74 as Ghani Glass — starting the day at 124-1 — chased down the 219-run target with ease.
Pakistan discard Sharjeel became pacer Mohammad Sadaqat’s victim only after cruising his way to 109 off 120 — the knock featuring 13 fours and three sixes.
After the burly southpaw’s departure, Tayyab Tahir (50 off 109) and Saad Nasim (21 off 11, two fours and a six) drove Ghani Glass across the line.
A lot more happened at the State Bank Sports Complex, where SNGPL — continuing their pursuit of 123 runs against SBP — started their day at 15-2 before it got worse.
They lost two more wickets early in the day to find themselves reeling at 55-4 with fast bowlers Mohammad Abbas and Mohammad Ilyas sharing the wickets equally.
But then arrived former Pakistan Test mainstays Azhar and Asad to steady the sinking ship.
The seasoned duo combined for a stand of 72 runs to take SNGPL all the way home.
While Asad, for whom the President’s Trophy is the last assignment as a professional player, added 47 off 71 balls, Azhar gave a 66-ball stay for 23 runs.At the UBL Sports Complex, Rohan took four wickets to help KRL bundle out HEC for 313 runs as the latter failed to chase a 434-run target.
HEC were well set to take on the uphill task, coming into the fourth and final day of the match with 117-1 on the board, but kept losing wickets at regular intervals.
After Sharoon Siraj, Arshadullah and Sirajuddin — two wickets each — had sent half the HEC line-up back to the pavilion, Rohan cleaned up the lower order as knocks of 67, 68 and 48 by Mohammad Huraira, Saad Khan and Ghazi Ghouri went in vain.
Scores in brief:
Ghani Glass beat PTV by seven wickets at the National Bank Stadium
GHANI GLASS 319-9 in 80 overs (Saad Nasim 150, Hussain Talat 49, Shahbaz Javed 45; Mohammad Sadaqat 3-72, Adil Naz 2-52, Uzair Mumtaz 1-20, Hasan Mohsin 1-43, Israr Hussain 1-60, Mohammad Junaid 1-70) and 219-3 in 50.1 overs (Sharjeel Khan 109, Tayyab Tahir 50 not out, Mohsin Riaz 28; Mohammad Sadaqat 2-73, Mohammad Junaid 1-48); PTV 128 in 36.2 overs (Taimur Khan 50, Mohammad Suleman 28; Mohammad Rameez Jnr 4-25, Shoaib Akhtar 4-37, Niaz Khan 1-13, Musa Khan 1-33) and f/o 409 in 96.4 overs (Taimur Khan 160, Mohammad Suleman 106; Mohammad Rameez Jnr 5-146, Shoaib Akhtar 3-75, Saeed Ali 2-33)
KRL beat HEC by 120 runs at the UBL Sports Complex
KRL 411-7 in 80 overs (Abdul Faseeh 153, Sharoon Siraj 64, Waqar Ahmed 60, Maaz Sadaqat 46; Mohammad Azab 3-103, Waseem Akram 1-72, Mohammad Junaid 1-92) and 401-9 (decl.) in 79 overs (Abdul Faseeh 156, Sharoon Siraj 65, Maaz Sadaqat 53 not out; Adeel Meo 2-35, Waseem Akram 2-42, Jahanzaib Sultan 2-92); HEC 379-8 in 80 overs (Awais Zafar 111, Saad Khan 67, Ghazi Ghouri 56; Arshadullah 4-77, Sharoon Siraj 1-52) and 313 in 73.2 overs (Saad Khan 68, Mohammad Huraira 67, Ghazi Ghouri 48; Rohan Qadri 4-46, Sharoon Siraj 2-51, Arshadullah 2-84, Sirajuddin 2-86)
SNGPL beat SBP by six wickets at the State Bank Stadium
SBP 170 in 59.1 overs (Umar Amin 48, Zain Abbas 36, Muhammad Irfan Khan 32; Shahnawaz Dahani 6-40, Mohammad Awais Anwar 2-33, Bilawal Bhatti 1-29, Mohammad Ali 1-52) and 257 in 89.4 overs (Rameez Aziz 80, Muhammad Irfan Khan 75; Mohammad Awais Anwar 3-29, Mohammad Ali 2-49, Shahnawaz Dahani 2-73); SNGPL 305-8 in 80 overs (Mubasir Khan 84 not out, Asad Shafiq 77, Bilawal Bhatti 54; Mohammad Ilyas 4-77, Kashif Bhatti 2-64, Sameen Gul 2-69) and 127-4 in 46 overs (Asad Shafiq 47*, Abdul Samad 26, Azhar Ali 23 not out; Mohammad Abbas 2-32, Mohammad Ilyas 2-39).
Published in Dawn, january 1st, 2024