KARACHI: After their nail-biting defeat against Lahore Eagles the other night, Karachi Zebras got back to winning ways in the Faysal Bank T20 Cup when they handed Quetta Bears a 44-run defeat at the National Stadium here on Monday.
The Zebras, led by Khurram Manzoor’s fine half-century, posted 172-5 after Danish Kaneria won the toss in the Group ‘A’ fixture.
The Bears, who lost the tournament’s opening game against Abbottabad Falcons by 72 runs on Sunday, were bowled out for 128 in the penultimate over.
Khurram, the opening batsman who has not played for Pakistan since scoring 77 against Australia in the last Test of the 2009-10 series, looked in good touch as he helped himself to 62 off 52 deliveries before departing in the 16th over after stroking six fours and one six.
Rameez Aziz (24 from 12 balls, five boundaries) and pinch-hitter Anwar Ali (32 off 21, two fours and a six) also made useful runs but both were run out. Akbar-ur-Rehman put the finishing touches by blasting a brace of sixes in his unbeaten 23 from a dozen deliveries.
The Bears got a decent start but once the first wicket fell it became a regular procession as Kaneria snared three with fellow spinner Azam Hussain and medium-pacer Uzair-ul-Haq taking two apiece.
Scoreboard KARACHI ZEBRAS: Khurram Manzoor b Arun Lal 62 Rameez Aziz run out 24 Anwar Ali run out 32 Faisal Iqbal c Mohibullah b Sher 6 Akbar-ur-Rehman not out 23 Hasan Raza b Arun Lal 17 Danish Kaneria not out 2
EXTRAS (B-1, W-1, NB-4) 6 TOTAL (for five wkts, 20 overs) 172 FALL OF WKTS: 1-36, 2-93, 3-117, 4-132, 5-170. DID NOT BAT: Farhan Iqbal, Uzair-ul-Haq, Azam Hussain, Atif Maqbool. BOWLING: Saeed Khan 4-0-25-0; Arun Lal 4-0-53-2; Sher Hasan 4-0-28-1 (1nb); Faizullah 3-0-24-0 (1nb); Abid Ali 4-0-33-0 (1w); Mohibullah 1-0-8-0.
QUETTA BEARS: Bismillah Khan c Kaneria b Uzair 11 Fareeduddin c Azam b Uzair 24 Mir Wais b Atif 21 Abid Ali run out 26 Arun Lal st Farhan b Azam 13 Mohibullah c Atif b Azam 2 Munir Ahmed lbw b Anwar 10 Taimur Siddiq c Farhan b Kaneria 0 Saeed Khan b Kaneria 0 Sher Hasan b Kaneria 2 Faizullah not out 1
EXTRAS (B-4, LB-7, W-7) 18 TOTAL (all out, 18.3 overs) 128 FALL OF WKTS: 1-40, 2-45, 3-82, 4-110, 5-115, 6-116, 7-118, 8-118, 9-126. BOWLING: Anwar Ali 3-0-12-1; Azam Hussain 4-0-31-2; Danish Kaneria 3.3-0-23-3 (3w); Uzair-ul-Haq 4-0-27-2 (3w); Atif Maqbool 4-0-24-1.
RESULT: Karachi Zebras won by 44 runs. UMPIRES: Ijaz Ahmed and Nadeem Ghauri. TV UMPIRE: Ahmed Shahab. MATCH REFEREE: Nadeem Arshad. MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Khurram Manzoor.
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