LAHORE, April 18: Test reject Imran Farhat scored an magnificent unbeaten century as PCB Blues trounce PCB Greens by nine wickets in the opening trial match at Gaddafi Stadium here on Friday.
Imran lashed 107 off 116 deliveries while dominating the unbroken second-wicket partnership of 178 with Faisal Iqbal. The left-hander slammed 14 fours and one six as PCB Blues achieved their target of 196 in just 37.1 overs.
The only casualty in Blues’ innings was Babar Naeem who perished after making only four runs.
Faisal Iqbal, the PCB Blues skipper, remained undefeated with a polished 66 off 101 balls. His innings contained eight hits to the fence.
Earlier, PCB Greens squandered an excellent start to lose their last seven wickets for mere 31 runs. The wrecker-in-chief was the slow left-arm spin of Babar Naeem. The all-rounder snared five for 28 in 10 overs.
Skipper Moin Khan hit six boundaries in making a 32-ball 29 during an opening stand of 57 with left-handed Salman Butt.
Salman and Saeed bin Nasir then came together to put on 87 for the second wicket. Salman top-scored with 68 off 94 balls. He stroked eight fours. Saeed contributed 51 off 70 deliveries, striking five fours.
The only other notable batting in the Greens’ innings came from Naved Latif, who made 29.
PCB GREENS:
Salman Butt b Babar 68
Moin Khan c Babar b Samiullah 29
Saeed bin Nasir c Amin b Babar 51
Naved Latif run out 29
Khaqan Arsal c Amin b Kamran 3
Faisal Athar b Babar 2
Salman Qadir c Faisal b Babar 0
Tahir Mughal b Babar 4
Yasir Shah run out 0
Fahad Masood b Kamran 1
Zahid Saeed not out 0
EXTRAS (LB-2, W-5, NB-1) 8
TOTAL (all out, 46.2 overs) 195
FALL OF WKTS: 1-57, 2-145, 3-164, 4-169, 5-172, 6-181, 7-191, 8-198, 9-193.
BOWLING: Faisal Afridi 5.2-0-36-0; Samiullah 9-1-36-1; Junaid Zia 8-1-40-0; Qaiser Abbas 8-0-30-0; Babar Naeem 10-0-28-5; Kamran Younis 6-1-23-2.
PCB BLUES:
Babar Naeem c Naved b Tahir 4
Imran Farhat not out 107
Faisal Iqbal not out 66
EXTRAS (LB-1, W-8, NB-10) 19
TOTAL (for one wkt, 37.1 overs) 196
FALL OF WKT: 1-18.
DID NOT BAT: Asim Munir, Faisal Naved, Qaiser Abbas, Kamran Younis, Amin-ur-Rehman, Junaid Zia, Samiullah, Faisal Afridi.
BOWLING: Tahir Mughal 6-2-15-1; Zahid Saeed 10-0-49-0; Fahad Masood 5-0-32-0; Salman Qadir 7.1-0-35-0; Yasir Shah 5-0-29-0; Khaqan Arsal 2-0-21-0; Salman Butt 2-0-14-0.
RESULT: PCB Blues won by nine wickets.
UMPIRES: Siddique Khan and Iftikhar Malik.