Sheikhupura thrash Kohat to clinch the Under-19 (Grade-II) Final inside two days

The final of the Under-19 (Grade-II) competition proved to be an anti-climax as the expected four day showdown at the Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot ended within two days after Sheikhupura thrashed Kohat by an innings and 152 runs.

Put into bat by Mohsin Khan, the Kohat skipper, Sheikhupura posted a challenging total of 328 on the board thanks due to some gritty batting by the middle order batsmen Nadeem Karamat. He remained not out with a brilliant knock of 102. Kashif Imran was the second highest scorer with 50. Opener Shahid Siddique chipped in with 45 while Javed Hussain and Kaleem Imran made useful contributions of 44 and 33, respectively.

Muhammad Shafique and Mohsin Khan, the Kohat off-spinners, took 4 wickets each for 43 and 59 runs, respectively. Seamer Imran Khan took one wicket for 55 runs.

For Kohat, batting never looked an easy task especially against some fine bowling from the Sheikhupura medium pacer, Nadeem Javed, who bagged 6 wickets for just 29 runs to restrict the opponents to 112 in their first innings. Zahir Khan top scored with 26 followed by Qalandar Khan, 21. None of the other batsmen could score above twenty. Qaisar Abbas, Sheikhupura skipper and Abdul Hayee, the medium pacer, got one wicket apiece.

Following on, with a deficit of 216, the Kohat team failed to come to terms with the Sheikhupura bowling even in their second go. Only Ijaz Ibrahim (25) and Imran Khan (13*) could reach double figures as their team succumbed under pressure to be bundled out for a paltry 64 in the 20th over of the innings.

Abdul Hayee grabbed 4 for 15 to lead the Sheikhupura attack. Nadeem Javed and Irfan Imtiaz took two wickets each while Qaisar contributed with one.