Pindi Express derailed but KRL triumph

Rawalpindi Express Shoaib Akhtar was thrashed for 73 runs by National Bank batsmen but his KRL team still won by three wickets in the NBP One-day Patron's Cup Pool 'C' match at KRL Stadium on Sunday.

After being put in to bat, National Bank reached 292 for five in their 50 overs with Naumanullah hitting a superb 110.

Test reject Qaiser Abbas also stroked a fine 84 not out.

Shoaib following a disastrous World Cup, proved to be the most expensive of the KRL bowlers and could only get the wicket of opener Kamran Akmal in his 10 overs. However, KRL responded in a befitting manner through their openers Ali Naqvi and Saeed Anwar Junior, who struck impressive half centuries. Both struck 12 boundaries each in scoring 57 and 89 runs respectively.

Later, Misbah-ul-Haq (39) and Naseer Ahmed (33 not out) made important contributions as KRL achieved victory by scoring 294 for seven.

Pakistan captain Waqar Younis picked up one for 56 while Shabbir Ahmed and Qaiser Abbas took two each.

Scoreboard

NATIONAL BANK:

Imran Nazir b Jaffar 3

Kamran Akmal c Ramzan b Shoaib 15

Hanif-ur-Rehman lbw b Saeed Jr 23

Naumanullah b Jaffar 110

Akhtar Sarfraz run out 17

Qaiser Abbas not out 84

Mohammad Javed not out 3

EXTRAS (LB-9, W-19, NB-9) 37

TOTAL (for five wkts, 50 overs) 292

FALL OF WKTS: 1-26, 2-29, 3-89, 4-135, 5-282.

DID NOT BAT: Imran Javed, Shabbir Ahmed, Waqar Younis , Mohammad Sami.

BOWLING: Shoaib Akhtar 10-0-73-1; Jaffar Nazir 6-0-26-1 ; Yasir Arafat 10-0-69-0; Mohammad Asif 4-0-27-0 ; Saeed Anwar Jr 10-0-40-1; Ali Naqvi 10-2-48-0.

KRL:

Ali Naqvi c Waqar b Qaiser 57

Saeed Anwar Jr run out 89

Mohammad Ramzan c Kamran b Waqar 6

Misbah-ul-Haq c Kamran b Shabbir 39

Saeed bin Nasir c and b Shabbir 8

Naseer Ahmed not out 33

Shoaib Akhtar c Imran b Sami 6

Yasir Arafat b Qaiser 15

Jaffar Nazir not out 15

EXTRAS (LB-2, W-15, NB-9) 26

TOTAL (for seven wkts, 48.1 overs) 294 FALL OF WKTS: 1-95, 2-109, 3-208, 4-216 , 5-231, 6-250, 7-276.

DID NOT BAT: Zulfiqar Jan, Mohammad Asif.

BOWLING: Waqar Younis 10-0-56-1; Shabbir Ahmad 9.1-0-57-2; Mohammad Sami 10-0-77-1; Qaiser Abbas 9-0-39-2; Imran Javed 6-0-30-0; Hanif-ur-Rehman 2-0-18-0 ; Mohammad Javed 2-0-15-0

RESULT: KRL won by three wickets.

Results of other Pool 'C' matches:

*At Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar:

Peshawar beat Sialkot by six wickets.

SIALKOT 221 in 40.2 overs (Adeel Malik 69, Shahid Khan 48 not out; Aftab Khan 3-20, Janisar Khan 3-40, Nauman Habib 3-45);

PESHAWAR 223-4 in 39.5 overs (Mohammad Fayyaz 99 not out, Asmatullah 31, Sajjad Ahmed Jan 28 not out).

*At Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad:

Faisalabad beat Rawalpindi by four wickets.

RAWALPINDI 257 in 50 overs (Babar Naeem 52, Nauman Aman 49, Shiraz Khalid 31, Pervez Aziz 30, Ajmal Shah 27; Adnan Rasool 3-49, Shahid Ali 2-46);

FAISALABAD 258-6 in 47.3 overs (Mohammad Saleem 53, Waqar Hussain 46 not out, Zeeshan Asif 45, Mohammad Salman 33 not out, Asif Hussain 29; Shiraz Khalid 2-42, Mohammad Fayyaz 2-61).