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.

ScoreboardKARACHI ZEBRAS:Khurram Manzoor b Arun Lal    62Rameez Aziz run out    24Anwar Ali run out    32Faisal Iqbal c Mohibullah b Sher    6Akbar-ur-Rehman not out    23Hasan Raza b Arun Lal    17Danish Kaneria not out    2

EXTRAS (B-1, W-1, NB-4)    6TOTAL (for five wkts, 20 overs)    172FALL 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    11Fareeduddin c Azam b Uzair    24Mir Wais b Atif    21Abid Ali run out    26Arun Lal st Farhan b Azam    13Mohibullah c Atif b Azam    2Munir Ahmed lbw b Anwar    10Taimur Siddiq c Farhan b Kaneria    0Saeed Khan b Kaneria    0Sher Hasan b Kaneria    2Faizullah not out    1

EXTRAS (B-4, LB-7, W-7)    18TOTAL (all out, 18.3 overs)    128FALL 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.