Faisal Iqbal shines for Sindh

Faisal Iqbal hit 12 boundaries to reach an unbeaten 97.

KARACHI:

Sindh dominated the first day of their Pentangular Cup match against Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), ending the day at 263 for three.

Put into bat, Sindh were in trouble at 58 for two but fought their way into a position of dominance, thanks to Faisal Iqbal’s unbeaten 97, which he made with the help of 12 boundaries. He found good support from Rameez Raja (64) and Fawad Alam (58*).

K-P bowlers struggled to make an impact after their initial success, with Nauman Habib, Yasir Hameed and Khalid Usman, all picking up a wicket each. The bowling side will be looking to lift their performance today, while Iqbal will be hoping to complete his century and extend his partnership with Alam.

Balochistan dominate as Taufeeq carries bat

In the other match of the day, Balochistan bowlers stuck to their tasks and were able to bowl out Punjab for 235. At close, the visitors had reached 10 for no loss.

Winning the toss and electing to field, Balochistan made regular in-roads into the Punjab innings, as the hosts struggled to come to terms with the visitors’ bowling. They found themselves in trouble, first at 19 for three and later at 185 for eight, but were saved from complete annihilation through Taufeeq Umar, who was the stand-out performer for Punjab as he hit an unbeaten 106 and carried his bat.

His innings was peppered with 12 hits to the fence. Usman Salahuddin was the other notable contributor, making 53. For Balochistan, Abdur Rauf, Rizwan Haider and Zulfiqar Babar all picked up three wickets each, rounding off a fine bowling performance. Shoaib Khan (nine) and Zain Abbas (one) will resume the innings today.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 4^th, 2011.