Sheikhupura brightened their chances of reaching the semi-finals stage of One-day tournament (Associations) after routing favourites Karachi Blues by 7wickets, as Imran Nazir, the test discard, got the highest individual score of the competition so far.

The right-handed opener hammered 148 off only 110 ball, punching 14 boundaries and 7 sixes to make short work of a respectable target of 234. He added 160 in around 25 overs for the first wicket with Majid Majeed (47 off 80, 4 fours) and then compiled another quick-fire 69 for the second wicket with Qaiser Abbas, before giving his wicket away just five short of target.

Earlier, Karachi Blues, put into bat, were helped by a 112-run 3rd wicket partnership between skipper Mansoor Khan (72 off 94) and Atif Ali Zaidi (47 off 78), after losing two wickets for just 32.

However, apart from these two, none of the other batsmen could take his personal score past 20, with five of them even failing to achieve double figures.

Qaiser Abbas, the left-arm leg spinner, was the most successful bowler for the winners, taking four wickets for 34. Aaqib Javed also bowled well, getting 2 for 40, whereas Mohammad Haroon bagged 2 for 49.

In the second match of this round, played at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad, the home side handed Lahore Blues their second defeat in the Pool B.

Put into bat first, Faisalabad were helped by a watchful 90 (122 ball, 9 fours, 3 sixes) and an attacking 78 (67, 10 fours, 1 six) by Imran Younis, as they posted a commanding 271 on the board.

Lahore fell into trouble right at the start of their innings, losing two wickets for just 13 on the board. Adnan Butt (26 off 50) and Kamran Akmal (34 off 24) added 55 for the third wicket, before a middle order collapse saw them losing five wickets for 93 by the 21st over.

After that, it was just a matter of time, before the Lahore innings folded in 49.5 overs for 198, thus, losing the match by 73 runs.

For Faisalabad, Mohammad Naeem, Saeed Ajmal, Maqsood Ahmed, and Sohail Nazir took two wickets each, whereas Imran Younis and Ijaz Mahmood got one each.

The third match of this round, played at Sargodha Sports Stadium, saw the home side going down by 2 wickets after posting a modest 173 against Gujranwala.

Put into bat first, Sargodha batsmen just failed to build any worthwhile partnerships, as three of their batsmen threw their wickets away after getting good starts. Skipper Misbah-ul-Haq top scored with 37 off 63, whereas Mohammad Sarfraq got 35 off 54.

Needing to score below 3.75 runs per over, Gujranwala reached 124 for three by the 20th over. However, they made things look a bit difficult after losing some quick wickets after that.

They were reduced to 166 for 8 at one stage, before knocking off the required runs on the first ball of the 34th over, thus, earning their first win in the competition.

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