A round-up of President’s Cup games that took place on December 26, 2013
ESPNcricinfo staff26-Dec-2013Left-arm spinner Raza Hasan took career-best figures of 6 for 14 to dismiss Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) for 118 in 32.4 overs and set up National Bank of Pakistan’s (NBP) ten-wicket win. SNGPL had progressed to 79 for 2 before they collapsed, losing eight wickets for 39 runs. Wahab Riaz and Adnan Rasool took two wickets each for NBP; Khurram Shehzad’s 41 was SNGPL’s top score. Kamran Akmal led the chase with 79 off 63 balls to knock off the target in 17.3 overs.Shoaib Khan snr and Faisal Iqbal struck 80s to lead Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) to a four-wicket victory in the final over against Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL). Chasing 253, PIA were reduced to 44 for 3 in the 14th over before Shoaib and Iqbal put on 171. They were dismissed in quick succession, but the lower order ensured their efforts were not wasted. With six runs needed off five balls, Tahir Khan hit Imran Nazir over the boundary to end the game. ZTBL had built their innings around half-centuries from Shahid Yousuf and Yasir Hameed, who added 102 for the second wicket. The contributions from the rest of the batsmen were poor, though, and a regular fall of wickets limited them to 252 for 2. Kamran Sajid took 4 for 39 for PIA, while Tahir took 3 for 43.Tabish Khan took four wickets and Usman Arshad scored 72 as State Bank of Pakistan eased to a five-wicket win over Pakistan Television in Islamabad. SBP chose to field, and kept striking regular blows to reduce PTV to 51 for 6. PTV’s most productive partnerships came from their lower order, who put on 25, 23, 31 and 38 to take their team to their eventual total of 168 in 42.3 overs. Samiullah, batting at No. 9, scored his first List A half-century and was last out for a 59-ball 55, with seven fours and a six, to give medium-pacer Tabish his second-best List A figures of 4 for 33.SBP were 14 for 3 in reply before Arshad and Mohammad Saad steadied them with a 68-run fourth-wicket partnership. Arshad then put on 60 with Rizwan Haider before he was out for a 107-ball 72, with seven fours and a six. Rizwan saw SBP through to the finish, and was unbeaten on 36 when they won with 22 balls remaining.Bilal Shafayat’s half-century and a four-wicket haul from Ehsan Adil helped Habib Bank beat Water and Power Development Authority by 93 runs in Islamabad. Sent in to bat, Habib Bank began well, only losing their first wicket at 86. Captain Imran Farhat made 42 and opening partner Shafayat struck seven fours in his 89-ball 83. No one else scored more than 40, and spinners Asif Ali and Saad Nasim struck regularly to finish with three wickets each, but Habib Bank still posed a sizeable 264 for 8 in 45 overs.Fast bowler Adil dismissed Saad Nasim and Mohammad Fayyaz for ducks to leave WAPDA 4 for 2 in reply. They never really recovered from that, and were all out for 171, with more than five overs still to play. No. 7 Mohammad Mohsin scored a 65-ball 67, but it proved insufficient with no one below him getting into double figures.Saeed Anwar junior’s sixth List A ton ensured Khan Research Laboratories held on for a five-wicket victory over United Bank Limited to secure their position at the top of the table with 13 points, four clear of second-placed Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited. United Bank batted first, and were in all sorts of trouble as opening seamer, Sadaf Hussain took three of the first four wickets to leave them ravaged at 9 for 4. The rebuild began with opener Saad Sukhail batting deep to get to 75, before he was run out. A couple of contributions from the lower order helped get United Bank to 215 for 9, with Sadaf finishing with best figures of 5 for 32.KRL didn’t start brightly in their reply, with the top order going early with just 37 on the board. Anwar, at No. 4, proceeded to guide the innings, finding a useful ally in Naved Yasin to register a 72-run stand for the fourth wicket. Nayyer Abbas accompanied him in an unbroken 63-run partnership for the sixth wicket to take the team home with an over to spare.
