By Our Sports Reporter
KARACHI, Nov 30: A magnificent display of pace bowling by Nadeem Iqbal enabled Pakistan Customs to stage a remarkable fightback against reigning champions Habib Bank Limited (HBL) on the second day of the Patron's Trophy Grade-I National Cricket Championship match at the National Stadium here on Monday.
Nadeem captured a career best eight for 64 as HBL were bowled out for 167 in reply to Pakistan Customs' first innings score of 213. Customs gained a vital lead of 46 on the first innings.
However, by stumps, the game was evenly balanced with Pakistan Customs overcoming a disastrous start to reach 124 for five in their second innings for an overall lead of 170.
HBL, who had resumed at 36 for no loss, found the going tough on a pitch that offered pace bowlers sufficient movement and lift. Today HBL mustered only 131 runs in 47.5 overs before they were all out half an hour before the tea interval.
For the second day running, extras, 25 of them, became the top score in the innings. Openers, Moin-ul-Atiq and Taufiq Umar who were batting on 15 and 18 respectively at close of play on Sunday, were the only batsmen to cross 20 in the HBL innings.
Nadeem began this morning with a hostile burst five for 24 in 12 overs as HBL crashed from 45 for no wicket to 93 for six. HBL reached 110 for six at lunch.
After the break, HBL seemed to be recovering as Kabir Khan and wicket-keeper Tahir Rasheed put up stiff resistance. But left-arm spinner Aamir Wasim broke the dogged partnership when he had Kabir caught at short leg by Aamir Iqbal.
Nadeem then came back for another spell to polish off the tail by picking three for 14 in 6.3 overs to take haul of wickets to 39 in seven matches this season.
Wicket-keeper Wasim Yousufi held three good catches while skipper Rana Qayyum took two smart ones at first slip.
HBL, however, then made early inroads in the Customs innings when Test discard Kabir Khan claimed three wickets in 13 balls, including Ameeruddin off the very first ball of the innings.
Rana Qayyum made a timely return to form by striking a polished 50 off 76 balls with eight boundaries before fell LBW to Sajid Shah.
Rana Qayyum, who batted for 92 minutes, was particularly severe on Hasnain Kazim as he slammed three boundaries in the pacer's third over that produced 24 runs.
Test batsman Azam Khan batted with a sense of purpose as he and Rana Qayyum put on 80 runs is as many minutes for the fourth-wicket. Azam's unbeaten 42 off 88 balls in 124 minutes includes five fours and a six.
Kabir claimed his fourth victim of the innings when he clean bowled Aamir Bashir in the final over of an eventful day that saw 15 wickets falling for 255.
Day 4: HBL pull off two-wicket win against Customs
By Our Sports Reporter
KARACHI, Dec 2: Reigning champions Habib Bank Limited (HBL) kept their hopes alive of reaching the final of the Patron's Trophy Grade-I National Cricket Championship when they pulled a narrow two-wicket victory over Pakistan Customs on the final morning of the four-day encounter at the National Stadium here on Wednesday.
HBL's third win of the season put them on equal terms with Pakistan Customs. Both have accumulated 36 points after seven matches to share the second place on the table, two points behind leaders ADBP.
Overnight ninth-wicket pair Sajid Shah and skipper Akram Raza were the HBL heroes as they played sensibly to score the remaining 45 runs for victory in 72 minutes of play this morning.
Sajid Shah, who resumed at 21, stroked the winning runs, with the scores levelled, when he crisply drove the first ball of the 18th over of the morning to the mid-on boundary. Sajid finished on 47 not out off 128 deliveries in 152 minutes with six fours.
Akram Raza added 21 more to his Tuesday's score of 13 to remain with an unbeaten 34 off 79 balls in the match-winning partnership of 72 in 118 minutes. His innings included three hits to the fence.
Surprisingly, both Sajid and Akram negotiated pacers Nadeem Iqbal and Azhar Iqbal with ease as the ball hardly played any tricks as it did on the previous three days.
Pakistan Customs did take the second new ball as soon as it became available after 80 overs as a last resort but, by then, HBL needed a handful of runs.
This defeat is shattering blow to Pakistan Customs who would qualified for the final if the result had gone their way.
Meanwhile, the cricket manager of the Customs team, former Test pacer Jalaluddin, has lodged a strong protest with the Domestic Tournament Monitoring Committee (DTMC) for shifting the venue of their final league match against the ADBP from the originally announced UBL Sports Complex to Defence Stadium.
``I don't understand the logic of DTMC to change the venue of such a crucial match, especially when we are competing for a place in the final,'' Jalaluddin said.
The DTMC on Monday issued a notification which simply stated that the match between Allied Bank, who are also in running for top honours, and PNSC, scheduled to be played at the NBP Sports Complex from Dec 5-8, had been shifted to the UBL Sports Complex.
It may be mentioned here that the Defence Stadium had not staged any first-class fixture in the previous season after it was deemed unfit for such matches.