Big wins for Peshawar, Karachi Whites

An all-round performance from Azam Khan gave Peshawar their first win of the tournament when they beat Karachi Blues by 118 runs at home.

Peshawar were reeling at 118 for 9 after being asked to bat but Azam, at No. 10, first top-scored with 69 to take them to 213 and then took four wickets to restrict Karachi to 115. Peshawar's second innings was led by a 49 from Jibran Khan as they were rattled by a six-wicket haul from medium-pacer Waqar Anwar, which curbed their score to 167 and set Karachi a target of 266.

Karachi lost their first three wickets for six runs and never recovered much from there as they were kept to 147 by a collective bowling effort from Azam, Jibran, Afaq Ahmed and Iftikhar Ahmed. Peshawar are now third in Group I, one place behind Karachi.

Karachi Whites registered their third win in four matches to lead the Group II table after they thrashed Hyderabad by an innings and 42 runs at the National Stadium. Karachi chose to bat and put on a strong total of 392 on the back of fifties from their top-order batsmen Fazal Subhan (50), Hamza Ghanchi (74) and captain Asif Zakir (88). Only Wajid Ali (44) scored from the middle order and their score was stretched from 317 for 8 to 392 with an unbeaten knock of 51 from No. 10 Faheem Ahmed.

Left-arm pacer Mir Hamza dismissed Hyderabad's openers and struck again later to not let the visitors' batsmen settle down. With the help of all the other bowlers, who picked up at least a wicket each, Hyderabad were restricted to 174 and were made to follow-on as Hamza finished with 4 for 65.

Hyderabad's second attempt didn't differ much as they scored 176 this time and were rocked by Khurram Shahzad's five-for. Zeeshan Gul (42), Faisal Athar (47) and Mohammad Shehbaz (32) resisted briefly but could not avoid the big loss as Zakir (3 for 2) and Hamza (2 for 54) also chipped in to complete the win within three days.