By Our Sports Reporter
KARACHI, Dec 1: Ghulam Ali hit a superb 141 to PIA in command on the third day of the Patron's Trophy Grade-I National Cricket Championship match against PNSC at the UBL Sports Complex here on Tuesday.
PIA closed their second innings at 303 for six to set PNSC a daunting target of 351. By close, PNSC had reduced that margin to 315 as openers Kashif Ahmed and Ghulam Ali managed to play out 11 overs without much alarm. They resume tomorrow on 16 and 18 respectively with PNSC on 36 for no wicket.
Ghulam Ali, who fell seven short of a century in the first innings, batted for 333 minutes and faced 227 balls in the second innings. His innings was laced with 10 fours and two sixes - both off young leg-spinner Danish Kaneria.
PIA, who resumed at 30 for three, were well served by three significant partnerships, all involving the consistent Ghulam Ali.
Nightwatchman Nadeem Afzal helped Ghulam put on 97 in 139 minutes for the fourth wicket.
Zahid Fazal was shaping up well in a 83-run stand for the fifth wicket in 86 minutes before he was out for 43. He faced 73 balls and struck five fours.
Mahmood Hamid also batted attractively to hit five boundaries in a neat 50 not out off 77 deliveries in 95 minutes. The partnership between Mahmood and Ghulam Ali realised 116 in 90 minutes before the latter was held on the long-on fence by substitute fieldsman Nisar off Sajjad Akbar.
Day 4: PNSC hold PIA to a draw
By Our Sports Reporter
KARACHI, Dec 2: Splendid batting by Iqbal Imam and Umar Rasheed almost carried PNSC to an unexpected victory over PIA in the Patron's Trophy Grade-I National Cricket Championship match which ended in a draw at the UBL Sports Complex here on Wednesday.
PNSC, who were a challenging 351 for victory, however, had to survive some anxious moments towards the end after losing a clatter of wickets as the match went full distance with the 15 mandatory overs utilised on the fourth and final day.
The two points from this draw gives PIA some breathing space as they move above PNSC into seventh spot with 16 points to ease their relegation worries.
PNSC fell 56 runs short of their target as they closed on 295 for seven with skipper Nasir Wasti and Sajjad Akbar defiantly playing out the last few overs.
It was generally expected that the PIA spinners would extract turn and bite from a last day pitch to trouble the PNSC batsmen.
But both left-arm slow bowlers, Nadeem Khan and Asif Mujtaba, who bowled 61 overs between them, on the contrary, struggled to really trouble the batsmen. In this context, it was rather puzzling that Zahid Ahmed, another left-arm spinner, was used very sparingly by his captain.
Poor catching also helped PNSC to prosper after the openers had provided a good start. Umar Rasheed was extremely fortunate when PIA skipper Aamir Malik, who is only a stopgap wicket-keeper, floored a simple catch when the batsman had yet to score. Aamir also fumbled on a couple of other occasions.
Both Iqbal Imam and Umar Rasheed made the most of their opportunities as they put on 133 for the third-wicket in 159 minutes.
Umar departed after making exactly 50 off 137 balls in 169 minutes with five fours when he was caught at slip by Asif off Nadeem.
Iqbal looked on course for a fine century until he was run out for 83 when he had scurried down the pitch and was sent back by his partner Mohammad Ramzan. The left-handed, who has nearly amassed 600 runs this season, batted for 213 minutes and faced 163 minutes. His knock was laced with 10 boundaries.
Nadeem Khan captured four for 103 for a match bag of eight for 177. Asif had figures of two for 55 with both his victims holing out to Nadeem Afzal on the long-off boundary.