LAHORE, Jan 11: A superb unbeaten century by captain Misbahul Haq enabled Faisalabad Wolves (FW) to earn an impressive six-wicket win against Karachi Zebras (KZ) at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad on Tuesday.
The win not only gave FW four valuable points to raise their tally to eight from three matches but also helped them remain in the race for semi finals' berth with Lahore Lions (eight points) and Sialkot Stallions (nine points) from pool "A".
Needing 225 for win, FW faltered losing three wickets for 22 before Misbah made the target look easy with his hurricane knock of 129, cracking 11 fours and five sixes off 126 balls as the home side romped home for the loss of four wickets with 1.2 overs to spare.
Misbah received solid support from Ijaz Ahmed Junior who scored 55 off 90 balls hitting four boundaries. Earlier, KZ, who suffered their third defeat in as many matches, managed 224 for seven wickets in allotted 45 overs with Sharjeel Ashraf (39) being the top scorer.
SCOREBOARD
KARACHI ZEBRAS
Fahad Iqbal c&b Tauqeer 18
Tariq Haroon c Zaman b Ahmed 3
Sharjeel Ashraf lbw Shafqat 39
Saeed bin Nasir run out 38
Hasan Raza b Saeed 12
Naumanullah lbw Shahid 37
Imran Javed st Zaman b Saeed 6
Farhan Iqbal not out 29
Muhammad Husnain not out 11
EXTRAS (B-2, LB-12, W-15,NB-2) 31
TOTAL (for seven wkts, 45 overs) 224
FALL OF WKTS: 1-26, 2-35, 3-116, 4-120, 5-151, 6-173, 7-191.
BOWLING: Shahid Nazir 9-2-22-1; Ahmed Hayat 9-1-28-1; Tauqeer Hussain 8-0- 49-1; Saeed Ajmal 9-0-50-2; Ijaz Ahmed Jnr 4-0-22-0; Shafqat Hussain 6-0-39-1.
FAISALABAD WOLVES
Abdul Mannan c Tariq b Hasnain 6
Khurram Shahzad c sub Irfan b Hasnain 4
Tauqeer Hussain c Tariq b Nasir 2
Misbahul Haq not out 129
Ijaz Ahmed Jnr st Nasir b Adnan 55
Naved Latif not out 13
EXTRAS (LB-2, W-11, NB-3) 16
TOTAL (for four wkts, 43.4 overs) 225
FALL OF WKTS: 1-11, 2-12, 3-22, 4-174.
DID NOT BAT: Muhammad Zaman, Ahmed Hayat, Saeed Ajmal, Shahid Nazir, 3 / ? Shafqat Hussain.
BOWLING. Nasir Khan 9-1-47-1; Muhammad Hasnain 9-2-27-2; Muhammad Haroon 5-1-24-0; Imran Javed 9-0-61-0; Nauman Ullah 4.4-0-28-0; Adnan Malik 7-0-41-1.
MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Misbahul Haq.
UMPIRES: Siddique Khan-Zameer Haider.
REFEREE: Khalid Niazi.