PIA clinch Quaid Trophy in great style

Published February 21, 2003

KARACHI, Feb 20: Young fast bowler Umar Gul snapped up five wickets as Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) regained the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship title when they overwhelmed Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) by 10 wickets at National Stadium here on Thursday.

The five-day final, ended 30 minutes after the tea interval on the fourth day when PIA, needing just 12 runs, romped home without losing a wicket to claim the prestigious title for the sixth time in their history.

Umar, the 20-year-old from Peshawar, produced another excellent display of pace bowling to capture five for 59 as KRL were bowled out for 214 in their second innings.

After taking two for 60 in the first innings, Umar bowled with hostility to rip through KRL’s top order and middle order batting.

Umar, who represented Pakistan in the Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand last year, removed both openers in his opening burst. Mohammad Ramzan was beaten by pace and was trapped in front for a duck while skipper Ali Naqvi was caught by Mohammad Zahid for eight.

When left-armer pacer Najaf Shah removed Saeed Anwar Junior for 14, KRL were reeling at 30 for three.

However, Saeed bin Nasir and Misbah-ul-Haq retrieved the situation by adding 86 for fourth wicket in 88 minutes before their stand was broken by off-spinner Shoaib Malik, who removed Misbah for 23.

Misbah, the Pakistan discard, failed by just 37 runs to reach the milestone of 1,000 runs in the championship.

Saeed bin Nasir batted with a great deal of courage, hitting nine boundaries before being caught behind by PIA skipper Moin Khan for resilient 65. He batted for just over two hours and faced 107 deliveries.

Umar then struck again by removing Naeem Akhtar and Zulfiqar Jan on successive balls.

At 183-9, KRL were heading towards innings defeat. However, Yasir Arafat cracked a defiant 69-ball 60 with the aid of six fours and three towering sixes to save his team from innings defeat. Quite appropriately, Umar ended the innings when he had Yasir caught by his unrelated namesake Yasir Hameed.

Shoaib Malik and Asif Mujtaba chipped in with two wickets.

Earlier, PIA added 21 runs to their overnight score of 445 for seven before being bowled out for 466. Moin was trapped lbw by Jaffar Nazir for 82, a knock which included 12 hits to the fence.

Jaffar, the right-arm medium-pacer, bowled his hearts out to finish with splendid figures of seven for 104 in 34.4 overs. He was the also the leading wicket-taker this season with a haul of 44 wickets.

Former Test batsman and Ex-treasurer, Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Waqar Hasan, was the chief guest and presented the glittering trophy to a delighted PIA skipper Moin Khan, who also collected the winners’ cash award of Rs 200,000.

Ali Naqvi received Rs 100,000 on behalf of his team along with the runners-up trophy.

Yasir Hameed was declared Man-of the-Match for his stupendous innings of 207. He got Rs 10,000.

Misbah-ul-Haq, who scored 963 runs was declared the best batsman of the championship while Jaffar Nazir was named the best bowler.

Adil Nisar of Wapda and Mohammad Ramzan shared the best fielder award of Rs 10,000 with 11 catches each while Zulfiqar Jan (40 victims) was adjudged the best wicket-keeper.

Scoreboard

KRL (1st Innings) 263 (Ali Naqvi 91, Misbah-ul-Haq 55; Najaf Shah 4-108).

PIA (1st Innings, overnight 445-7):

Kamran Sajid c Zulfiqar b Jaffar 43

Ghulam Ali lbw b Jaffar 1

Yasir Hameed run out 207

Faisal Iqbal c Zulfiqar b Jaffar 5

Bazid Khan lbw b Jaffar 19

Moin Khan lbw b Jaffar 82

Shoaib Malik b Asif 10

Mohammad Zahid c Zulfiqar b Jaffar 5

Umar Gul not out 6

Najaf Shah c and b Jaffar 0

EXTRAS (LB-8, NB-28) 36

TOTAL (all out, 140.4 overs) 466

FALL OF WKTS: 1-6, 2-140, 3-237, 4-255, 5-303, 6-403, 7-435, 8-459, 9-460.

BOWLING: Jaffar Nazir 34.4-8-104-7 (6nb, 7w); Mohammad Asif 38-6-164-2 (19nb); Yasir Arafat 37-9-7-106-0 (3nb); Naeem Akhtar 14-3-44-0; Ali Naqvi 13-3-31-0; Saeed Anwar 4-0-9-0.

KRL (2nd Innings):

Ali Naqvi c Zahid b Umar 8

Mohammad Ramzan lbw b Umar 0

Saeed Anwar Jr c Zahid b Najaf 14

Saeed bin Nasir c Moin b Asif 65

Misbah-ul-Haq lbw b Shoaib 23

Intikhab Alam lbw b Shoaib 9

Yasir Arafat c Yasir b Umar 60

Naseem Akhtar c Yasir b Umar 18

Zulfiqar Jan lbw b Umar 0

Jaffar Nasir c Zahid b Asif 5

Mohammad Asif not out 4

EXTRAS (LB-3, NB-5) 8

TOTAL (all out, 56 overs) 214

FALL OF WKTS: 1-3, 2-12, 3-30, 4-116, 5-120, 6-127, 7-178, 8-178, 9-183.

BOWLING: Umar Gul; 14-0-69-5 ((2nb); Najaf Shah 11-0-42-1; Shoaib Malik 16-1-64-2 (2nb); Asif Mujtaba 15-6-36-2 (1nb).

PIA (2nd Innings):

Kamran Sajid not out 5

Ghulam Ali not out 4

EXTRAS (W-3) 3

TOTAL (for no wkt, 13.4 overs) 12

BOWLING: Ali Naqvi 7-3-7-0 (2w); Saeed Anwar Jr 6-5-2-0; Saeed bin Nasir 0.4-0-0-3-0 (1w).

RESULT: PIA won by 10 wickets.

UMPIRES: Riazuddin and Asad Rauf.

MATCH REFEREE: Ehteshamuddin.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Yasir Hameed.—APP