KARACHI, March 18: Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) reached the final round of the National One-day Cricket Championship after defeating Pakistan Customs by six wickets at National Stadium Monday.
PIA’s fifth successive victory left an intriguing last round match between Customs and Karachi Whites. The winners of the game will go to the second round and will play their matches in Punjab.
On Monday, Customs went down without offering any real resistance. They collected a modest 218 for nine from their 50 overs and had PIA not opted to avail batting practice, the score would have been overhauled much earlier than 45.2 overs.
Such is the strength of PIA that every reshuffle in the batting order pays off. On Monday, Shoaib Malik was sent as opener and he justified the decision by stroking a fluent 57 off 77 balls with five boundaries.
Yasir Hameed, the find of the 2001-02 domestic circuit, stroked 63 with three boundaries off 114 balls. He added 103 for the second wicket with Shoaib after Ghulam Ali had returned at the total of 15.
Later in the order, Asif Mujtaba scored an unbeaten 30 while Yousuf Youhana hit 23 not out off 20 balls. Faisal Iqbal chipped in with 22.
The only salient feature of Customs batting was a 87-run fifth wicket stand between Asim Kamal (63) and skipper Aamir Bashir (51). The left-handed Asim hit four boundaries and two sixes in his 85-ball knock while Aamir’s 75-ball innings included four fours.
Saqlain Mushtaq remained the pick of PIA bowlers with three for 37 from 10 overs. Azhar Mahmood bagged two for 43 while Fazle Akbar finished with two for 52. Wasim Akram was tight, economical and aggressive in his one for 20 off eight overs.
PAKISTAN CUSTOMS:
Azhar Shafiq lbw b Wasim 0
Shadab Kabir c Moin b Azhar 25
Kashif Siddique lbw b Fazle 8
Agha Sabir lbw b Fazle 7
Asim Kamal run out 63
Aamir Bashir c Azhar b Saqlain 51
Aamir Iqbal c Azhar b Saqlain 30
Nadeem Javed c Youhana b Saqlain 0
Waqas Chughtai c Moin b Azhar 5
Salman Fazal not out 7
Tabish Nawab not out 4
EXTRAS (B-1, LB-2, W-10, NB-5) 18
TOTAL (for nine wkts, 50 overs) 218
FALL OF WKTS: 1-0, 2-21, 3-29, 4-65, 5-152, 6-195, 7-197, 8-205, 9-207.
BOWLING: Wasim Akram 8-2-20-1; Fazle Akbar 10-0-52-2; Azhar Mahmood 10-0-43-2; Saqlain Mushtaq 10-0-37-3; Shoaib Malik 8-1-48-0; Asif Mujtaba 4-0-15-0.
PIA:
Ghulam Ali c Aamir Iqbal b Waqas 8
Shoaib Malik c and b Kashif 57
Yasir Hameed c Agha Sabir b Tabish 63
Faisal Iqbal lbw b Kashif 22
Asif Mujtaba not out 30
Yousuf Youhana not out 23
EXTRAS (B-4, W-8, NB-4) 16
TOTAL (for four wkts, 45.2 overs) 219
FALL OF WKTS: 1-15, 2-118, 3-146, 4-178.
DID NOT BAT: Moin Khan, Azhar Mahmood, Wasim Akram, Saqlain Mushtaq, Fazle Akbar.
BOWLING: Waqas Chughtai 8-0-52-1; Nadeem Javed 5-1-23-0; Salman Fazal 8-0-35-0; Azhar Shafiq 5-1-18-0; Kashif Siddique 10-1-27-2; Tabish Nawab 7.2-0-43-1; Aamir Bashir 2-0-17-0.
RESULT: PIA won by six wickets.
UMPIRES: Mian Aslam and Iftikhar Malik.
MATCH REFEREE: Mohinder Kumar.
Results of other Pool ‘A’ matches:
*Bahawalpur beat Lahore Whites at UBL Sports Complex, Karachi
LAHORE WHITES 248-8 in 50 overs (Jahangir Mirza 78, Khaqan Arsal 60, Salman Butt 36, Tariq Rasheed 36; Amjad Jam 3-54);
BAHAWALPUR 249-9 in 49.5 overs (Asif Iqbal 58, Amjad Jam 45 not out, Aamir Mahmood 44, Bilal Khilji 24, Maqbool Hussain 20; Umer Javed 3-24, Atif Malik 2-28, Tariq Rasheed 2-49).
*Rest of Sindh beat Hyderabad by 56 runs at Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad
REST OF SINDH 255-9 in 50 overs (Shahid Qambrani 63, Rizwan Qureshi 47, Mansoor Chandio 41, Adnan Ameer 39, Niaz Ahmed 29; Ali Safeer 3-45, Kashif Alam 2-38);
HYDERABAD 199-9 in 59 overs (Rizwan Ahmed 56, Ayaz Taifi 29; Naeem Ghauri 3-41).