KARACHI: Former champions Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL), Ghani Glass and Water and Power Development Authority (WAPTA) won their first round matches of the President Cup Grade-1 on Tuesday.
Bismilla Khan’s anchor performance helped WAPDA chase down a target of 163 for 4 in 46 overs to register a comfortable win against Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) at the National Bank Stadium here.
Bismilla top-scored for WAPDA with 46 off 84 balls in the second innings, while middle-order batsman Sharoon Siraj and opener Imran Dogar scored 33 and 24 respectively.
Ahmed Basheer took 2 wickets for KRL side and Mohammad Hamza and Ahmed Hasan took one wicket each in the second innings.
At the start of the final day, KRL resumed their second innings at 189/7 and could add 8 more to their overnight score for the remaining three wickets, curling up for 197 in 52.2 overs.
Waqar Ahmed top-scored with his blistering 52, followed by second-day opener Shahzaib Khan’s 51, while skipper Sarmad Bhatti made a gutsy 36 on the decisive day.
Mohammad Adil was the pick of the bowlers in WAPDA’s second innings with 4 for 42 from his 12 overs, while Aqib Khan (3/59) and Naqeebullah (3/43) shared 6 wickets between them.
Athar Mehmood’s second-innings five-wicket haul helped SNGPL beat Sahir Associates by an innings and 151 runs in the first-round match of the President’s Cup Grade-I at the NBP Sports Complex.
Earlier in the day, Sahir Associates resumed its second innings at 68/3 after being forced to follow on and managed to amass 288 not out in 82.2 overs despite a century from top-order batsman Mohammad Basid.
Basit followed up with a top-scoring 107 off 195 balls, followed by half-centuries from Mohammad Faiq (54) and skipper Asim Ali Naseer (71).
Athar led the SNGPL’s bowling charge with five wickets, while Shahnawaz Dahani grabbed two wickets. On the other hand, Mohammad Salman and Sajid Khan chipped in with one each.
In the third match of the eight-team tournament, Ghani Glass chased down a modest target of 78 runs for the loss of 3 wickets as Oil and Gas Development Authority (OGDCL) suffered a crushing defeat.
At the start of the third day, OGDCL started their second innings at 75/2, leading by a slender 25 runs, but could add another 52 runs to their overnight score, curling up for 127 in 45 overs.
Overnight batsmen Israrullah and Abdul Rahman Muzammil scored 37 and 32 respectively, while Umar Siddiqui (16) and Mushtaq Ahmed (10) were the other two batsmen who scored double figures.
Afaq Afridi led Ghani Glass’s bowling charge in the second innings with five wickets, followed by Mir Hamza with three wickets, while Ubaid Shah claimed two scalps.
In turn, Ghani Glass made light work of the 78-run target as they amassed the total in 24.1 overs. Experienced opener Sharjeel Khan top scored with 21 off 23 balls.
Arshadullah, Mohammad Amir Khan and Mushtaq took one wicket each for OGDCL side.
In another first-round match between the runners-up of the previous edition, State Bank of Pakistan (SBB) was on the brink of a massive defeat against defending champions Pakistan Television (PTV).
Chasing a target of 240, SBP were 148/8 at the end of play on day three, with Rameez Aziz and No.10 batsman Mohammad Ismail unbeaten on 31 and zero respectively.
Earlier, PTV resumed their second innings at 191/5 and were bowled out for 293 in 72.5 overs thanks to Mohammad Suleman’s anchor century.
The middle-order batsman top-scored for the defending champions with 100 off 175 balls with 10 fours and 4 sixes. He was supported by emerging all-rounder Arafat Minhas who scored 81 runs.
Mohammad Abbas took three wickets off the bowling of SBB, Qashib Ali, Niaz Khan and Qasim Akram took two wickets each and Ismail took one wicket.