Ashfaq Memorial Club register thrilling victory

KARACHI: Ashfaq Memorial Club registered a thrilling two-run victory over N N Strikers in their Group C encounter of the 36th edition of the Karachi Gymkhana Ramazan Festival Cricket Tournament 2023 for the Omar Trophy here at the KG Cricket Ground on Tuesday.

Batting first, after winning the toss, Ashfaq Memorial Club overcame a disastrous start to reach a respectable total of 173 for the loss of eight wickets in the allotted 20 overs. The innings was revived by Usman Ahmed (50 off 34 balls) and Ghazi Ghauri (41 off 31 balls) who added 85 for the fifth wickets in only eight overs after their side had crashed to 46 for four in eighth over.

Ashar Qureshi (3-31) was the pick of the N N Strikers bowlers and he was ably supported by Muhammad Makki (2-33) and Rahman Ghani (2-36). Set a target of 174, the N N Strikers innings was held together by opener Abdullah Fazal (68 off 46 balls) but Ashfaq Memorial Club stayed in the game by picking up wickets at regular intervals. The cameo from Haider Bangash (43 off 16 balls) put N N Strikers on top but his dismissal in the 18th over opened up the game again.