President’s Trophy: PIA out of running for the final

SNGPL, HBL to vie for title after KRL’s win.

KARACHI: KRL defeated PIA by seven wickets on the final day of their eighth-round President’s Trophy match to put the latter out of the running for a place in the final – SNGPL and HBL, who drew their match in Islamabad, will fight it out for the title.

It marks a huge turnaround for HBL, who would have been relegated if the format was not changed for this season after having won the Quaid Trophy the season previous to that.

PIA resumed on 116 for four on the final day and were bowled out for 194 with Sarfaraz Ahmed top-scoring with an unbeaten 53 off 76 balls. Faisal Iqbal chipped in with 44 as Yasir Ali and Ali Khan took three wickets apiece. Set a target of 122, KRL raced past the target with seven wickets to spare as Tayyar Riaz hit 54.

In another match, Zulfiqar Babar’s seven-wicket effort gave Wapda a thrilling four-run win against SBP. SBP resumed on 127 for nine, needing 38 more to win the match. Adnan Raees scored an important 46 to take his side close to the finish line but failed to take them over it as they were all out for 160.

Elsewhere, bad light saved HBL from embarrassment against SNGPL after being reduced to 73 for five while chasing 139. Earlier, SNGPL were bundled out for 199 as Ehsan Adil added four more wickets to his tally.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 24^th, 2012.