KRL, SSGC, PTV record emphatic wins

KARACHI: Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) and Pakistan Television romped to their fourth straight wins when they comprehensively beat their respective rivals in their fourth round matches of the Quaid-e-Azam Cup One-Day at different venues of the country on Sunday.

National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), Peshawar, Habib Bank Limited (HBL), Rawalpindi and Multan also won their matches in the 16-team event.In a Pool A outing, at the LCCA Ground, Lahore, KRL upstaged Lahore Whites by five wickets to virtually make it to the quarter-finals stage with eight points. Jaahid Ali (50), Shoaib Ahmed (45) and an unbeaten 22 from Saif Badar enabled KRL to achieve the 166-run target in the 43rd over after losing five wickets.

Off-spinner Haris Bashir got 3-36. Lahore Whites were folded for 165 with Imran Dogar scoring 56-ball 45 with seven hits to the fence. Left-arm pacer Sohaibullah claimed 3-23.

SSGC also notched their fourth successive win as they beat Lahore Blues by eight wickets at the Gaddafi Stadium.

SSGC rode on the batting heroics of Awais Zia (55), Ammad Alam (48), skipper Umar Amin (42*) and Fawad Alam (44*) to race to the 201-run target in the 39th over after losing two wickets.

Left-arm spinner Asfand Mehran and Saad Nasim got one wicket each.

Saad Nasim (57) and Tayyab Tahir (56) had guided Lahore Blues to 200 all out in the allotted 50 overs.

Zia-ul-Haq, Kashif Bhatti, Fawad Alam and Adil Amin took two wickets each.

At UBL Sports Complex here, PTV defeated Karachi Whites by six wickets, their fourth win in Pool B.

Karachi Whites posted 267-8 with Kashif Iqbal (68) and Babar Agha (53) scoring fine fifties.

Amir Jamal and spinner Reza Hasan claimed two wickets each.

PTV achieved the target in 47 overs after losing four wickets thanks to Ali Imran’s superb 100 which came off 111 balls and had eight fours and four sixes.

He added 72 for the first wicket with Nihal Mansoor (29).

Ali Khan (62*) and Umair Khan (39*) put on 63 for the fifth wicket unbroken stand to take their side safely home.

Off-spinner Waleed Ahmed got 2-41.

Rawalpindi defeated WAPDA by 100 runs at Pindi Stadium, Rawalpindi. Chasing a stiff target of 263, WAPDA perished for 162 with skipper Salman Butt (59) and Mohammad Akhlaq (37) leaving some impression with the willow.

Awais Iqbal (5-26) and Amir Sohail (4-35) bowled well.

Earlier, Zeeshan Malik had hammered run-a-ball 145 with 15 fours and five sixes to single-handedly shepherd Rawalpindi to 262-9.

Ehsan Adil (3-50), Sadaif Mehdi (2-60) and Mansoor Amjad (2-37) were the successful bowlers.

At Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad, NBP bulldozed Islamabad by 226 runs thanks to excellent showing from Umar Siddiq and Kamran Ghulam. Umar Siddiq slammed 145-ball 157 not out to enable NBP to pile up a huge total of 346-2. Umar, who hit 14 fours and four sixes, added 194 for the second wicket with Ramiz Raja Jr who unluckily got out on 99.

Skipper Hammad Azam chipped in with a quick-fire 23-ball 45 not out which included three fours and two sixes.

Islamabad, in response, were skittled out for 120 due to lethal bowling from left-arm spinner Kamran Ghulam, who picked 7-23 in 6.4 overs, his career-best figures in List-A cricket.

Peshawar overwhelmed SNGPL by 52 runs at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad. Chasing 264, SNGPL were folded for 211 in the 47th over with skipper Mohammad Hafeez scoring 38. Asif Ali made 37. Paceman Mohammad Ilyas got 3-42.

Sahibzada Farhan (122) and Gohar Ali (61) steered Peshawar to 263-7. Mohammad Imran captured 3-52.

Habib Bank Limited (HBL) overwhelmed FATA by 26 runs at Abbottabad Stadium. Umar Akmal (92), Ramiz Aziz (55) and Zohaib Khan (44) guided HBL to 333 all out. Mohammad Talha, Asif Afridi and Khushdil Shah claimed two wickets each.

FATA, in response, perished for 307. Asad Afridi (59), Khushdil Shah (58) and Asif Afridi (50) struck fine fifties. Paceman Abbas Afridi picked 5-51.

At Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan upstaged ZTBL by seven wickets. Shakeel Ansar (100) hit a fine century to enable ZTBL to pile up 253-7.

Multan raced to the target in the 46th over after losing three wickets.

Zeeshan Ashraf (85), Imran Rafiq (60*) and Khalilullah (52*) did a fine job.