Pentangular Cup: Faisalabad in sight of victory against PIA
LAHORE, March 31: Fine bowling by pacemen Sami Ullah Niazi and Asad Ali put Faisalabad on the road to victory against PIA in the Pentangular Cup cricket tournament at Qadhafi Stadium on Friday.
Left-arm pacer Sami, who took four wickets in the first innings grabbed four more for 74 while Asad, who also earned four wickets in first innings, took three for 71 as PIA were all out in the second innings for 283 by close of play to set a meagre winning target of 76 for Faisalabad after deducting a big first innings lead of 208.
Faisalabad will start the second innings on Saturday with all wickets in tact.
PIA’s batsmen, who displayed dismal performance in the first innings as all were out for a paltry total of 69 in 23 overs, tried their best to give an improved performance in the second innings.
Test discard and captain Yasir Hameed (55, 13 fours), Agha Sabir (44, eight fours), Mahmood Hamid (47, seven fours) and unbeaten Janisar Khan (44, three fours) batted well.
But their efforts fell short in setting a formidable target for Faisalabad.
Scoreboard
PIA (1st innings) 69 all out (Asad Ali 4-14, Sami Ullah Niazi 4-31).
FAISALABAD (1st innings) 277, 62.4 overs (Ijaz Ahmed Jnr 96, Muhammad Zahid 60).
PIA (2nd innings):
Agha Sabir lbw b Asad 44
Kamran Sajid c Asad b Niazi 22
Yasir Hameed c Shahid b Niazi 55
Bazid Khan c Salman b Niazi 25
Asif Mujtaba c Misbah b Asad 0
Mahmood Hamid lbw Shahid 47
Janisar Khan not out 44
Tahir Khan c Salman b Niazi 34
Najaf Shah run out 0
Fazle Akbar c Ahmad b Asad 2
Aizaz Cheema absent injured.
EXTRAS (LB-3, W-1, NB-6) 10
TOTAL (all out, 89 overs) 283
FALL OF WKTS: 1-40, 2-85, 3-139, 4-141, 5-165, 6-217, 7-276, 8- 276, 9-293.
BOWLING. Shahid Nazir 19-4-46-1; Sami Ullah Niazi 25-7-74-4; Asad Ali 22- 4-71-3; Ahmed Hayat 14-1-53-0; Muhammad Hafeez 4-1-16-0; Ijaz Ahmed Jnr 5-0-20-0.