In a tight contest, Karachi Dolphins, requiring 26 to win in the final over, lost by five runs to Rawalpindi Rams at the Gaddafi Stadium in front of a crowd of 5000. Middle-order batsman
Fawad Alam, who scored an unbeaten 40 off 17 deliveries, smashed 20 runs off five deliveries through two sixes and a boundary, before being beaten by Sohail Tanvir off the final ball.
Umar Amin scored a half-century and bowled an economical spell to be adjudged Man of the Match.
After having chosen to bat, Rawalpindi started briskly, with the openers adding 64 runs in 44 deliveries. Each of the top four batsmen outscored the other, with No. 3 Babar Naeem and Amin consolidating on the solid platform laid by the openers. Karachi captain Shahid Afridi was expensive, giving away 49 runs in his four overs, as Rawalpindi scored 188.
Karachi suffered an early blow in their chase, when opener Shahzaib Hasan was dismissed for a duck off the second ball of the innings. His partner Khurram Manzoor kept Karachi in the chase with two productive partnerships of 51 and 49 respectively for the second and the third wicket. With the required run rate climbing steadily, Alam and Tanvir Ahmed added 53 in five overs to keep them in the hunt, but Karachi fell just short.
Sialkot Stallions captain
Shoaib Malik scored a half-century and took four wickets to help his team to a 72-run triumph in the opening match of the day in Lahore. Chasing 150, Quetta Bears lost wickets regularly, and were in trouble at 50 for 6, before Jalat Khan provided some resistance by scoring 17. But the target proved beyond them.
Sialkot, after being asked to bat first, began positively with their openers putting on 21 for the first wicket. They wobbled when Haris Sohail was run out for 11 but Malik, who scored 51, and Shahid Yousuf laid the anchor for a strong total with a 57-run partnership. For Quetta,
Nazar Hussain, the left-arm seamer, took his career-best figures of 3 for 16.
Kamran Akmal's aggressive half-century and
Mohammad Hafeez's four wickets drove Lahore Lions to a 30-run victory against Abbottabad Falcons in Lahore. Chasing a stiff 187, Abbottabad were off to a brisk start, with a 45-run opening stand between Yasir Hameed and Mir Azam. Hameed, who scored 45, added a further 54 with captain Younis Khan. But quick wickets pegged them back thereafter and they fell 31 runs short.
Lahore had also made a strong start in their innings, with openers Nasir Jamshed and Ahmed Shehzad scoring 51 in 7.2 overs. KamranAkmal scored 59 off 33 deliveries to push them to 148 before falling in the 17th over. His younger brother Umar scored a quick 22 to take them to 186.
Lahore took their first wicket in the seventh over, when left-arm spinner Mustafa Iqbal dismissed Azam. From 99 for 1, Abbottabad lost three wickets for six runs. Although middle-order batsman Khalid Usman scored a quick 27, it wasn't enough.
Kamran Hussain's crucial unbeaten 23 and
Kashif Siddiq's three wickets helped Bhawalpur Stags to a comfortable 29-run victory against Peshwar Panthers at Bagh-e-Jinnah in Lahore.
Batting first, Bhawalpur slipped to 22 for 3, but a fourth-wicket partnership of 63 between Usman Tariq and captain Bilal Khilji repaired the damage. Wickets fell regularly thereafter, but Kamran's quick knock helped set a target of 135.
Peshawar were never in control of the chase. Besides opener Iftikhar Ahmed and No. 3 Mohammad Rizwan, who put on 26 runs for the second wicket, only wicketkeeper Gauhar Ali scored in double digits. Peshawar lost their last seven wickets for 32 runs to lose by a fair margin.
Lahore Eagles, after scoring 224
against Hyderabad Hawks on Saturday, were bowled out for 103 by Faisalabad Wolves in Lahore. Faisalabad mildly stuttered in their chase as Mohammad Khalil and Raza Ali Dar took two wickets each to give them a scare. But opener
Farrukh Shehzad, who scored 47, steered Faisalabad to a five-wicket win.
Lahore, after being put in to bat, lost wickets regularly. Imran Farhat top-scored with 20, but Lahore were bowled out quickly as they lost their last eight wickets for 52 runs.
An aggressive 34 by lower-order batsman
Imad Wasim took Islamabad Leopards to within five runs of victory against Karachi Zebras. Karachi were in control throughout their opponents' chase, as a combined bowling performance helped them reduce Islamabad to 76 for 8 in the 17th over. Wasim changed the course of the contest, but couldn't give his side the win.
Islamabad's
Iftikhar Anjum claimed four wickets to peg Karachi back when they batted after winning the toss. No one scored more than 36, but there were four other batsmen who struck crucial partnerships and help them go past the 120-run mark. It proved to be enough in the end.