Bahawalpur go down by 10 wickets as Mubashir shines

Bahawalpur were restricted to a meager 78 in the second innings of the four-day QEA Trophy (Grade-I) encounter against Gujranwala to go down in the match by ten wickets at Jinnah stadium, Gujranwala.

This is the fourth lowest score by any team in the 12-team tournament, which is followed by some uninspired performances from Peshawar (67), Faisalabad (73), and Sheikhupura (76) in matches of the previous rounds.

Gujranwala owe their magnificent success to some fine all round exhibition both with bat and ball, especially by the stand-in captain Mubbashir Nazir who bagged 5 wickets in Bahawalpur's second innings to finish the match with figures of 9 for 93. With this success, their third in the tournament, Gujranwala has gained 42 points.

Batting first after winning the toss, Bahawalpur were all out in their first innings for 231, despite valiant batting by Usman Tariq (106*) in the middle order. Except Hammad Tariq (35) and Hasnain Raza (35), no other player could make a worthwhile contribution with the bat.

Mubashir Nazir, the right arm fast bowler, took four wickets for 61 runs. Abdul Rehman, the left arm leg spinner took three for 78, whereas Sarfraz Ahmed and Adnan Farooq claimed the remaining three wickets.

Gujranwala lost their first wicket for only 12 on the board. However, a partnership of 142 between Faisal Butt (84) and Imran Abbas (54) for the second wicket saw them out of danger.

The home team was looking for a big total at this stage, but some loose shots combined by good bowling performances by Kamran Hussain (4 for 71) and Usman Tariq (4 for 63) restricted them to a first innings lead of 65.

One hoped that the Bahawalpur batsmen would fight with vigor after an inspiring performance by their bowlers. However, that was not to be, as they crumbled too easily under the pressure applied by the opponents.

Hammad Tariq (27) and Tariq Hafiz (18) were the only batsmen who could surpass double-figures before the whole batting line-up was demolished within 22 overs by the Gujranwala bowlers led by Mubashir.

Apart from Mubashir, Sarfraz and Adnan claimed two wickets each for 5 and 28 runs, respectively. The remaining one batsman was run out.

Gujranwala required just 14 runs to win the match, and they achieved the target in four balls of their second innings. Hafiz Khalid, promoted in the batting order, slammed two boundaries to remain not out on 10. The remaining four runs came in the form of byes.

In other fixtures of this round, Peshawar beat Lahore-W by an innings and 146 runs at LCA, owing to a fine knock of 221 by Test discard Younas Khan. The match between Lahore-B and the hosts Sheikhupura was evenly poised on the third day when fog intervened rendering the remaining of the game impossible to continue. At Karachi, a fighting display by Sargodha in the second innings denied Karachi-B a possible innings' victory after Faisal Iqbal made a fine double century in the home side's first innings.