KARACHI, March 15: Opener Atiqur Rahman stroked a match-winning century to keep Sialkot Stallions in contention for the final of the National One-day Regional Gold League cricket championship on Wednesday.
Atiq struck 114 to help Stallions beat Peshawar Panthers by five wickets despite the first-ball dismissal of skipper Imran Nazir at the National Stadium.
Atiq, who adorned his 136-ball innings with 13 fours and one six, shared a third-wicket partnership of 93 with Shahid Yousuf (49 off 70 balls with four fours) as the Stallions reached their target of 247 in the 48th over.
After being asked to bat first, the Panthers overcame a hesitant start to put up a fighting 246.
Janisar Khan (51 off 87 balls with eight fours), Wajahatullah Wasti (43 off 60 balls) and Akhtar Sarfraz (an unbeaten 52 off 56 balls with four fours) were the chief run-getters.
Although proving very expensive, Mansoor Amjad, the Stallions leg-spinner, returned figures of four for 66 in 8.3 overs.
Scoreboard
PESHAWAR PANTHERS:
Yasir Hameed c Imran b Nadeem 8
Mohammad Fayyaz c Kamran b Nadeem 20
Janisar Khan b Imran 51
Riffatullah Mohmand c Hafiz b Tahir 12
Wajahatullah Wasti c and b Mansoor 43
Zulfiqar Jan c Hafiz b Mansoor 4
Akhtar Sarfraz not out 52
Arshad Khan c Bilal b Mansoor 4
Aslam Qureshi b Tahir 5
Waqar Ahmed run out 0
Fazle Akbar b Mansoor 26
EXTRAS (B-4, LB-3, W-12, NB-2) 21
TOTAL (all out, 48.3 overs) 246
FALL OF WKTS: 1-19, 2-48, 3-75, 4-119, 5-134, 6-167, 7-175, 8-197, 9-198.
BOWLING: Sarfraz Ahmed 10-0-40-0 (1w); Nadeem Javed 10-0-52-2 (1nb, 2w); Tahir Mughal 10-0-37-2; Kamran Younis 9-0-41-0 (1w); Imran Nazir 1-0-3-1; Mansoor Amjad 8.3-0-66-4 (1nb, 4w).
SIALKOT STALLIONS:
Imran Nazir c Zulfiqar b Fazle 0
Atiqur Rahman lbw b Janisar 114
Bilal Hussain run out 25
Shahid Yousuf c Arshad b Aslam 49
Shahzad Malik run out 13
Mansoor Amjad not out 27
Hafiz Khalid not out 0
EXTRAS (B-5, LB-9, W-4, NB-1) 19
TOTAL (for five wkts, 47.1 overs) 247
FALL OF WKTS: 1-0, 2-51, 3-142, 4-183, 5-242.
DID NOT BAT: Tahir Mughal, Sarfraz Ahmed, Kamran Younis, Nadeem Javed.
BOWLING: Fazle Akbar 8.1-0-39-1 (1nb, 1w); Waqar Ahmed 10-0-55-0; Janisar Khan 9-0-44-1 (2w); Aslam Qureshi 9-0-39-1; Arshad Khan 7-0-37-0; Mohammad Fayyaz 2-0-9-0 (1w); Wajahatullah Wasti 2-1-10-0
UMPIRES: Afzaal Ahmed and Rasheed Bhatti.
MATCH REFEREE: Anwer Khan.