Punjab University retained the All-Pakistan Inter-University Cricket Championship title when they trounced University of Karachi by a comprehensive margin of nine wickets on the penultimate day of the four-day final at the National Stadium here on Friday.

Chasing a modest 35 for victory, the visitors reached their target when Faisal Javed pulled Nomanullah to the square-leg boundary 30 minutes after the lunch and Friday prayers break.

There is no doubt that Punjab University, who also completed a hat-trick of championships since they also triumphed in the previous two years, thoroughly deserved their victory against a side that boasted of seven first-class cricketers including a Test player and three ex-Pakistan under-19 captains.

It was really hard to understand the reason behind University of Karachi's awful batting performances in both innings as the pitch remained excellent for batting throughout the match.

Resuming at the overnight score of 11 without loss, University of Karachi crumbled for a disappointing 121 in 39.5 overs in their second innings 15 minutes before the extended lunch interval.

In fact, the home team barely avoided the possibility of an embarrassing defeat by an innings as they lost their eighth wicket at 83. However, the writing was clearly on the wall by then.

Adnan Kalim, batting at number 10, top-scored with an unbeaten 21 off 25 balls with four boundaries and shared the highest partnership of the innings with last man Adnan Sohail. The pair added 30 in 25 minutes before Adnan Sohail was caught behind by Ahsan Raza off Ahmed Ali.

Medium-pacer Ahmed Ali was the wrecker-in-chief with figures of four for 32. He claimed three of the first four wickets, including ex-Pakistan junior skippers, Maisam Hasnain (five) and Ahmer Saeed (one).

Left-handed Rizwan Qureshi, who was promoted in the order, batted for as many as 74 minutes to score 14 off 44 deliveries before he was fifth out at 73.

Much was expected from the discarded Test opener Shadab Kabir, who also captained Pakistan juniors, but after making 19 he was caught close to the bat by Misbah-ul-Haq off left-arm spinner Mohammad Shoaib.

In the space of 15.5 overs, University of Karachi crashed from 51 for four to 91 for nine.

For the visiting team, Shoaib also bowled well to capture three for 14 in eight overs. Skipper Kashif Shafi took two for 26 with his off-spin while medium-pacer Adnan Usman, who is actually a wicketkeeper, claimed the wicket of Atiq-uz-Zaman.

Punjab University skipper Kashif Shafi was naturally delighted at his team's great victory and praised the NSK pitch for its consistency. ``The pitch played superbly throughout the game. Had we applied ourselves in the first innings, we could have scored in the region of 400.''

Kashif also paid tributes to the umpires, Riazuddin and Junaid Ghafoor, and added that he was pleasantly surprised by the neutrality of the Karachi umpires. ``Before the match, I must admit that we were worried about the standard of umpiring. They were unbiased throughout the match.''

RESULT: Punjab University won by nine wickets.

UMPIRES: Riazuddin and Junaid Ghafoor.