RAWALPINDI, March 20: It was a cakewalk for KRL on Thursday as they crushed Rawalpindi by eight wickets in the NBP One-day Patron’s Cup Pool ‘C’ match at KRL Stadium.
Openers Ali Naqvi and Saeed Anwar Junior, both struck rapid half centuries, to help KRL overhaul Rawalpindi’s meagre 152 with almost 20 overs to spare.
Naqvi’s knock of 66 featured 11 boundaries while Saeed too was in a punishing mood and cracked nine fours and two sixes in his unbeaten total of 69.
Earlier, Sohail Nasir was the only bright spark after Rawalpindi had won the toss and elected to bat first. The opener batted confidently in scoring 42 but the rest of the batsmen could not achieve much.
Off-spinner Saeed Ajmal bagged four wickets for 20 runs in five overs.
In a major upset, Sialkot defeated the star-studded National Bank side by three wickets in a high-scoring thriller at Saga Ground in Sialkot.
Test wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal hammered 131 off 102 balls, which included 19 fours and two sixes, and left-handed opener Salman Butt made 93 off 122 deliveries with the aid of nine boundaries as National Bank scored 342 for eight in their 50 overs.
Sialkot captain Tahir Mughal led the onslaught for his side with a magnificent unbeaten 118. He blasted 10 fours and as many as seven sixes in his 87-ball innings.
Shahzad Malik also excelled by stroking 12 fours and a brace of sixes in his 81 off 61 balls.
Peshawar, meanwhile, scored a narrow two-run victory over hosts Faisalabad at Iqbal Stadium with Mohammad Fayyaz stealing the honours. He made 72 and captured two for 41.
Scoreboard
RAWALPINDI:
Sohail Nasir c and b Saeed Ajmal 42
Babar Naeem c Saeed bin Nasir b Shoaib 3
Pervez Aziz c Naseer b Yasir 4
Junaid Zia run out 20
Shiraz Khalid c Ramzan b Saeed Anwar 14
Zia-ul-Haq Sr c sub b Naqvi 5
Nauman Aman b Saeed Ajmal 18
Mohammad Zubair not out 8
Ajmal Shah c Shoaib b Saeed Ajmal 0
Mohammad Akram c Shoaib b Faisal 0
M. Fayyaz st Naseer b Saeed Ajmal 8
EXTRAS (B-4, LB-5, W-19, NB-2) 30
TOTAL (all out, 37 overs) 152
FALL OF WKTS: 1-13, 2-19, 3-54, 4-101, 5-114, 6-118, 7-141, 8-142, 9-143.
BOWLING: Shoaib Akhtar 4-1-12-1; Yasir Arafat 8-1-33-1; Faisal Afridi 6-0-21-1; Ali Naqvi 9-2-36-1; Saeed Anwar Jr 5-0-21-1; Saeed Ajmal 5-0-20-4.
KRL:
Ali Naqvi c Zubair b Babar 66
Saeed Anwar Jr not out 69
Mohammad Ramzan st Zubair b Pervez 3
Yasir Arafat not out 2
EXTRAS (LB-1, W-8, NB-4) 13
TOTAL (for two wkts, 30.5 overs) 153
FALL OF WKTS: 1-120, 2-129.
BOWLING: Mohammad Akram 2-0-8-0; Mohammad Fayyaz 3-0-14-0; Ajmal Shah 6-1-30-0; Junaid Zia 5.5-0-46-0; Babar Naeem 7-1-27-1; Shiraz Khalid 4-0-20-0; Pervez Aziz 3-0-7-1.
RESULT: KRL won by eight wickets.
Results of other Pool ‘C’ matches:
*At Saga Ground, Sialkot:
Sialkot beat National Bank by three wickets.
NATIONAL BANK 342-8 in 50 overs (Kamran Akmal 131, Salman Butt 93, Imran Nazir 34, Naumanullah 24; Shaiman Butt 2-34, Faisal Khan 2-41, Shahid Khan 2-58, Tahir Mughal 2-58);
SIALKOT 346-7 in 49.3 overs (Tahir Mughal 118 not out, Shahzad Malik 81, Faisal Khan 48, Adeel Malik 31; Waqar Younis 3-62, Mohammad Sami 2-62).
*At Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad:
Peshawar beat Faisalabad by two runs.
PESHAWAR 237 in 50 overs (Mohammad Fayyaz 74, Aftab Khan 51, Janisar Khan 28 not out; Adnan Rasool 4-48, Tauqir Hussain 3-53, Fida Hussain 2-27);
FAISALABAD 235-9 in 50 overs (Mohammad Saleem 72, Zeeshan Asif 62; Bilal Marwat 2-39, Mohammad Fayyaz 2-41).