Patron's Trophy Grade I: Habib Bank on top after round three

Patron's Trophy (Grade I) has seen through three rounds after which Habib Bank (HBL), having two wins to their credit from three matches, are at the top in the teams' standing with an aggregate of 25 points.

According to the tournament format, a team gets 12 points if it wins the match after getting first innings lead, 9 points if it wins without getting first innings lead, three points if its draws the match after getting a first innings lead, and zero points if it concedes first innings lead in a drawn encounter.

HBL earned three points in their drawn second round encounter against National Bank, courtesy first innings lead. However, they were penalized with two points - one for each match in the first two rounds - after their captain failed to submit his report to the umpires.

The rules set out for the eight-team competition hold that one point will be deducted from the team's tally if the captain of that team does not submit his report to the umpires at the conclusion of the match.

The second slot is occupied by Allied Bank (ABL) with an aggregate of 22 points. ABL had two wins from two matches before drawing their third-round match against Pakistan International Airlines (PIA). Like HBL, they have also been penalized with two points.

Wapda stand third in the point's table with 10 points. They are ahead of Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) and Customs (fourth and fifth, respectively) despite having the same number of points in their bag. This is due to the fact that they have lost only one encounter against KRL and Customs' two losses each.

National Bank and Agricultural Bank are, respectively, sixth and seventh in teams' standings with 9 and 3 points against their names. PIA are at the bottom of the point's table with just a solitary point to their credit.

There are four rounds still to go before the five-day final of the Trophy begins from 7th to 11th April at Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore. So at the moment, it is a bit hard to predict which two teams will emerge as the winners and runners-up of the round robin league, so as to book a place for the supreme honour.