Offspinner
Junaid Ilyas' four-for helped
United Bank restrict
Quetta Bears to a 165, and set up an easy
seven-wicket win with 11 overs to spare. At one stage Quetta were tottering at 88 for 7, before some resistance from the tail lifted them to a more respectable total. It was never going to really challenge the opposition though, and an unbeaten 57 from Saeed Bin Nasir and a stand of 81 with Ammar Hasan put the result beyond doubt. This meant Quetta are yet to get on the point table, two games into the tournament. It was United Bank's first win.
Hyderabad Hawks meanwhile aced a stiff chase against
Pakistan International Airlines, sealing an exciting
three-wicket win with two balls to spare. PIA had done well to get to 292 for 5 on the back of 112 from captain
Kamran Sajid and 80 from
Faisal Iqbal. The chase followed a similar pattern, with
Faisal Athar hitting 111 and
Shoaib Laghari hitting an unbeaten 64, both at better than a run a ball, with a number of cameos around them to seal the deal for Hyderabad.
Habib Bank thumped
Sialkot Stallions, chasing down a
paltry target of 150 in 14.3 overs. The Habib Bank bowlers justified their decision to bowl, sharing the wickets around while cutting through Sialkot. No one in the Sialkot line-up could get more than Bilal Hussain's 30. In reply, rapid knocks from
Aftab Alam and
Humayun Farhat further flatted Sialkot. Alam's 71 came off 49 balls with 12 fours and a six, while Farhat made 38 off just 18 with six fours and a six. While Habib Bank are positioned comfortably near the top of the table after three games, it was Sialkot's third loss in as many matches, putting them dead last.
Rearguard action from
Bahawalpur Stags' lower order helped them to their first win, a
92-run victory over
Abbottabad Falcons. Bahawalpur were reduced to 22 for 3 before brisk knocks of 81 from
Rehan Rafiq and 52 from
Moinuddin built on 61 from
Faisal Mubashir to help raise them to 294 for 8. Several Abbottabad batsmen got starts in the chase, but none carried on - not even Khalilullah, the innings top-scorer with 50 - and they were bowled out with almost eight overs still left to bat.
Over in Group III,
Faisalabad Wolves registered a
three-wicket win against
Multan Tigers. Faisalabad chose to bowl and were kept at bay by Multan opener
Sikander Khan, who made 93 off 119.
Shahzad Ali also chipped in with a quick fifty, lifting the team to 243. Naseer Akram had the standout figures for Faisalabad: 9.4-1-46-4. In the chase, Multan struck quick blows in clusters, but it was the few stands between those clusters that cost them. The chief contributors to those vital runs was
Hasan Mahmood, who made 85 not out from No. 4 to see the team home in 48 overs.
In a high-scoring encounter in Lahore, the hosts
Lahore Eagles would have been happy to end up with an enormous total of 322, but that proved insufficient in the end, as
Pakistan Television chased it down with seven balls and
five wickets to spare. While Lahore's innings was built around their top order - their top three, Tayyab Tahir, Gauhar Hafeez and Mohammad Waheed, all got fifties - the chase had contributions all through. It was anchored by 102 off 116 by opener
Mohammad Naeem, and strengthened with half-centuries from Hasan Raza and Nawaz Ahmed, and a couple of 30-somethings from the middle order.