KARACHI: Joint leaders Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) and Water and Power Development Authority (WAPDA), along with third-placed Khan Research Laboratories (KRL), battled it out on the opening day of their respective final round President Cup Grade-1 matches.
KRL were bowled out for 189 in 61.1 overs at the KCCA Stadium here, despite Hamza Nasser’s half-century as Sameen Gul’s six-wicket haul brought Ghani Glass up.
Hamza remained the top scorer with a blistering 71 off 80 balls with the help of 10 boundaries, followed by Waqar Ahmed and Akib Shah with 35 and 30 respectively.
Sameen led the bowling charge for Ghani Glass with sensational bowling figures of 6/42 from his 18 overs. Ali Shabbir took 2 wickets and Shoaib Akhtar Jr took one wicket.
In reply, Ghani Glass ended the opening day at 45/2 in 18 overs, bringing the deficit to 144 with eight wickets in hand.
Top-order batsman Dayab Tahir and nightwatchman Sameen, not out with four and two runs respectively, will continue Ghani Glass’s reply the next day.
For the KRL side, Sufyan Mukeem and captain Iftikhar Ahmed managed to pick up a wicket each as they dismissed Sharjeel Khan (24) and Khawaja Arham (11) respectively.
Joint leaders SNGPL enjoyed an equally forgettable opening day after being bowled out for 182 in 66.2 overs against Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) at the UBL Sports Complex here.
All-rounder Mubasir Khan waged a lone battle for the leaders with a gutsy half-century of 52 off 102 balls with 4 fours and a six. Top-order pair Azan Awais and Omair bin Yusuf, with 23 each, were the next best run-scorers.
Among the bowlers for OGDCL was Asif Afridi who took 6 wickets for 71 runs in 29 overs, while Mohammad Amir Khan and Danish Aziz took 2 wickets each.
In turn, captain Imam-ul-Haq’s anchorage helped OGDCL settle at 63/2 stumps in 21 overs.
OGDCL’s innings got off to a great start as their opening pair of Imam and Mas Sadaq put on 58 runs for the first wicket, followed by Test pacer Mohammad Ali’s 25 off 52 balls.
Ali returned to the field, dismissing top-order batsman Haroon Arshad in 12 balls to reduce the total to 61/2.
Imam and Arsal Shaikh remained unbeaten on 36 and zero respectively to ensure that OGDCL did not suffer any further setbacks in the dying minutes of the opening day.
WAPDA, the third contender in this year’s President Trophy Grade-1 final, conceded a huge total against State Bank of Pakistan on the opening day of the final round at the SBP Sports Complex after their captain Khalid Usman won the toss and elected to field first.
Batting first, the team scored 394 runs in 83.1 overs.
Middle-order batsman Rameez Aziz led SBP’s batting charge with an anchoring century, scoring 145 off 182 balls with 15 fours and 4 sixes.
Opener Abdullah Fazal and all-rounder Qasim Akram contributed to the total with 72 and 45 runs respectively.
On the WAPDA side, Naqeebullah and captain Khalid bagged three wickets each, Mujtaba Khan two wickets and Akif Javed and Mohammad Naveed one wicket each.
WAPDA could only bat two overs before the stumps were called, and their openers Rafe Rana and Muhammad Akhlaq carefully defended all the balls, meaning their scoreboard read 0/0.
The remaining final round of the President Cup Grade-I between Pakistan Television (PTV) and Sahir Associates was tied after the opening day at the Oval Academy ground here.
Batting first, defending champions Mohammad Mohsin Khan, Arafat Minhas and Amat Bhat managed to register 267 runs in 60.3 overs despite a poor start.
Mohsin continued to top score with a blistering half-century of 66 off 77 balls with 8 fours and 3 sixes, followed by Minhas and Budd with 49 and 44 respectively.
Among the bowlers for Sahir Associates, Razaullah took 5 wickets for 73 runs in 22 overs, followed by Khan Zeb 3, Revayat Khan and captain Hafeez Mohammad Suleman with one wicket each.
In reply, Sahir Associates reached 60/1 in 18 overs before the end of the opening day’s play.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Asim Ali Naseer and opener Faham-ul-Haq are unbeaten on 30 and 20 respectively, leaving the defending champions 217 runs behind, and will begin their reply on day two.
Muhammad Ilyas Khan, PTV’s lone wicket-taker, dismissed Abdullah on the opening day.