KARACHI, Dec 1: A stylish unbeaten 72 runs by former Test star Shoaib Mohammad, steered Karachi Gymkhana Whites to a seven-wicket victory over Karachi Club in the 16th Karachi Gymkhana Ramazan cricket tournament played Saturday at the Karachi Gymkhana ground.
Winning the toss and batting first, Karachi Club began their innings well when their openers Faraz Ahmed (36) and Abid Anwar (26), put on 51 runs for the first wicket.
But fine leg-spin bowling by Iqbal Sikander (3-24) and Uzair Usman (2-25), restricted Karachi Club to 158 for eight in their 20 allotted overs with brothers Rehman Malik and Rehan Malik chipping in with 27 and 23 runs.
Chasing 159 runs to register their second victory in the tournament, Karachi Gymkhana Whites got off to a flying start when Shoaib Mohammad and Mohammad Azhar (56) put on an invaluable 124-run partnership for the first wicket, before the latter fell to the bowling of right-arm leg-spinner Taimoor Ashraf.
Taimoor claimed another two more scalps before Karachi Gymkhana Whites passed their opponents total after 18.4 overs, losing only three wickets in the process.
Shoaib struck seven boundaries in his 54-ball match winning knock, while Mohammad Azhar’s 35-ball innings contained eight scorching boundaries.
Taimoor Ashraf flighting his spinners for good measure, claimed all the three wickets that fell for the losers, conceding 20 runs.