KARACHI, March 16: An unbeaten 101 by diminutive right-hander Mohammad Masroor guided Karachi Whites to an emphatic eight-wicket win against Bahawalpur in the National One-day Cricket Championship Pool ‘A’ tie at National Stadium here Saturday.
Masroor came to the crease in the fourth over and struck six fours and one six in his 125-ball innings as Karachi Whites reached 179 for two in 44.4 overs.
Masroor dominated the unbroken third-wicket partnership of 167 with opener Maisam Hasnain, who finished on 59 off 133 deliveries with the aid of seven boundaries.
In fact, the Whites received an early jolt in the second over of the innings when Mir Rashid, a surprise selection, was caught at the wicket for a first-ball duck.
Zeeshan Pervez then fell after making only nine to leave his side in tatters at 12 for two. However, Masroor nullified Bahawalpur’s intentions of scoring an upset win by playing some wonderful strokes, particularly his trademark pulls and cuts.
Earlier, the visitors were dismissed for 178 after being asked to bat first by Whites skipper Arif Mahmood.
Arif, the slow left-armer, was the pick of the bowlers by returning excellent figures of four for 27 in 9.5 overs. Masroor, chipping with two for 14 with his part-time off-spin.
BAHAWALPUR:
Bilal Khilji c Azmat b Tauseef 0
Hammad Tariq b Irfan 24
Asif Iqbal c and b Tahir 30
Mohammad Rashid c Maisam b Masroor 26
Samir Mahmood c Zeeshan b Arif 2
Inam-ul-Haq c Zeeshan b Arif 11
Kamran Hussain c and b Tahir 29
Faisal Elahi c Arif b Masroor 4
Maqbool Hussain not out 13
Abdul Samad b Arif 2
Tahir Maqsood lbw b Arif 0
EXTRAS (B-4, LB-3, W-24, NB-6) 37
TOTAL (all out, 48.4 overs) 178
FALL OF WKTS: 1-3, 2-60, 3-82, 4-96, 5-125, 6-153, 7-153, 8-158, 9-177.
BOWLING: Tauseef Qadri 9-0-36-1; Mohammad Hasnain 6-0-20-0; Tahir Khan 9-0-42-2; Irfanuddin 10-2-32-1; Arif Mahmood 9.4-0-27-4; Mohammad Masroor 5-1-14-2.
KARACHI WHITES:
Maisam Hasnain not out 59
Mir Rashid c Inam b Tahir 0
Zeeshan Pervez c Bilal b Kamran 9
Mohammad Masroor not out 101
EXTRAS (W-7, NB-3) 10
TOTAL (for two wkts, 44.4 overs) 179
FALL OF WKTS: 1-1, 2-12.
DID NOT BAT: Ahmer Saeed, Arif Mahmood, Azmat Ali, Tahir Khan, Mohammad Hasnain, Irfanuddin, Tauseef Qadri.
BOWLING: Kamran Hussain 3.3-1-14-1; Tahir Maqsood 7-0-36-1; Bilal Khilji 5.3-0-27-0; Maqbool Hussain 8-1-40-0; Faisal Elahi 9.4-1-22-0; Abdul Samad 10-0-33-0; Asif Iqbal 1-0-7-0.
RESULT: Karachi Whites won by eight wickets.
UMPIRES: M. Akbar Khan and Iftikhar Malik.
MATCH REFEREE: Raees Ahmed.
Results of other Pool ‘A’ matches:
*PIA beat Hyderabad by seven wickets at Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad
HYDERABAD 181-5 in 50 overs (Imran Naseer 44 not out, Iqbal Shaikh 43, Ayaz Taifi 32, Naeem Akhtar 26 not out; Shoaib Malik 2-31);
PIA 187-3 in 35.2 overs (Faisal Iqbal 72 not out, Wasim Akram 29, Abdul Razzaq 27, Shoaib Malik 26 not out).
*Rest of Sindh beat Lahore Whites by five wickets at UBL Sports Complex, Karachi
LAHORE WHITES 250-6 in 50 overs (Salman Butt 109, Jahangir Mirza 51, Atif Malik 39; Rizwan Qureshi 4-41);
REST OF SINDH 251-5 in 46.2 overs (Rizwan Qureshi 78, Mansoor Chandio 63 not out, Abdul Rahim 34 not out, Shahid Qambrani 33; Imran Ali 3-51).