Lahore, 19 September 2023: Lahore Blues, led by Imran Butt registered their first win of the season. Meanwhile, the match between Lahore Whites and Rawalpindi was drawn, owing to the last day getting washed out by rain. Karachi Whites, despite enforcing a follow-on, could not force a result and had to settle for a draw against Faisalabad. Multan and Peshawar too ended up with a drawn game.
Lahore Whites v Rawalpindi
Rawalpindi ended day three at 232-1. However, play could not resume on the last day, owing to heavy rain in Lahore. Play was called off, and the match was drawn.
Karachi Whites v Faisalabad
At the start of the day, Faisalabad were at 63-6, trailing by 371 runs. Ghulam Mudassar notably bagged a five-wicket-haul, which helped the Sarfaraz Ahmed-led side. After the Karachi bowlers bowled them out for 122, a follow-on was enforced.
Faisalabad fared better in their second batting innings. They only lost one wicket, and accumulated 103 runs, with Mohammad Huraira, Ali Shan and Ali Waqas contributing to the cause.
However, considering that the match had entered the last session, and Faisalabad had nine wickets still in hand, the match was drawn.
Peshawar v Multan
Multan began their batting on the final day of the rain-impacted game. Trailing by 263, Multan batted through the day to ensure that the deficit between the two teams was reduced, even if a result seemed unlikely.
A 62 by opener Zain Abbas, and later a 70 by Sharoon Siraj helped their cause. However, Peshawar kept counter attacking by taking periodic wickets. Particularly, four wickets by Abbas Afridi and two wickets by Mohammad Ilyas kept the Multan batting conscious throughout.
The side ended up with 286-7 after batting for 90 overs, effectively drawing the game.
FATA v Lahore Blues
FATA started the day at 127-4. They got to 214, before being bowled out by the Imran Butt-led side. A five-wicket-haul by Ali Shafiq was crucial to the Blues’ performance in the innings.
Khushdil Shah’s 73 and Mohammad Salman Khan’s 71 were the only fight put up by the FATA side, which otherwise could not steady themselves during the innings.
Trailing by just 40 runs, captain Imran Butt scored the bulk of the runs in the last innings ensuring that the game ended in their favour. His 22 runs were supported by nine runs from Umar Siddiq and four runs from Usman Salahuddin before the target was met.
Lahore Blues, thus, registered their first win of the season by nine wickets.
Scores in brief:
Lahore Whites v Rawalpindi
Match Drawn
1st Innings
Lahore Whites: 407-3 in 100.3 overs (Ali Zaryab Asif 182, Ahmed Shahzad 102; Kashif Ali 2-88, Munir Riaz 1-75)
Rawalpindi: 232-1 in 63 overs (Abdul Faseeh 113*, Ashfaq Ahmed 51*; Mohammad Irfan 1-74)
Karachi Whites v Faisalabad
Match Drawn
1st Innings
Karachi Whites: 434-5 in 114 overs (Sarfaraz Ahmed 128*, Asad Shafiq 108*; Mohammad Ali 2-82, Khurram Shahzad 2-124)
Faisalabad: 122 all out in 52.4 overs (Ali Shan 36, Mohammad Huraira 19; Ghulam Mudassr 5-35, Aftab 3-23)
2nd Innings
Faisalabad: 103-1 in 49 overs (Ali Shan 46*, Mohammad Huraira 39; Nauman Ali 1-15)
Peshawar v Multan
Match Drawn
1st Innings
Peshawar: 263 all out in 82.3 overs (Kamran Ghulam 117, Abbas Ali 34; Siraj Ud Din 4-45, Majid Ali 3-41)
Multan: 286-7 in 90 overs (Sharoon Siraj 70, Zain Abbas 62; Abbas Afridi 4-84, Mohammad Ilyas 2-52)
FATA v Lahore Blues
Lahore Blues win by 9 wickets.
1st Innings
FATA: 140 all out in 49.1 overs (Mohammad Salman Khan 40, Mohammad Wasim Khan 23; Hunain Shah 3-22, Hussain Talat 2-28)
Lahore Blues: 314 all out 73.3 overs (Waqas Ahmed 53, Qasim Akram 51; Aimal Khan 3-82, Akif Javed 3-85)
2nd Innings
FATA: 214 all out in 56 overs (Khushdil Shah 73, Mohammad Salman Khan 71; Ali Shafiq 5-34, Kashif Bhatti 2-34, Waqas Ahmed 2-71)
Lahore Blues: 41-1 in 8.2 overs (Imran Butt 22*; Akif Javed 1-13)
