Tanvir excels as honours even in Trophy final

Honours on the opening day of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy Grade-I Cricket Championship between Karachi Whites and Peshawar were evenly shared at National Stadium here Friday.

No less than 15 wickets fell on a fascinating day with the ball clearly dominating the willow while 295 runs were scored on a pitch that offered plenty to the bowlers all day. Kuwait-born paceman Tanvir Ahmed stole the limelight picking five wickets for 53.

Karachi Whites, after a stuttering start to their innings which left them reeling at 51 for four at one stage then 98 for five, made a partial recovery to reach stumps 21 runs behind Peshawar's first innings score of 158.

The Whites were lucky not to lose another wicket in the penultimate over of the day when wicket-keeper Zulfiqar Jan spoiled his day by spilling a relatively not-so-difficult chance offered by Imran Javed (32) off Kabir Khan.

Now it remains to be seen how long Imran, a gutsy 22-year-old allrounder, makes Peshawar pay for that reprieve. Skipper Moin Khan is batting with 17, includes two boundaries in the final over, the second creamed to the cover boundary off the day's last delivery.

Speedster Fazle Akbar is now five away from the magical 100-wicket mark after taking two more scalps Friday. He removed Ghulam Ali in his second over with a late outswinger that flew off the outside edge to a diving Zulfiqar Jan.

Mohammad Masroor made an enterprising 36 with five hits to the fence until he perished while offering a horizontal bat after initially going for a pull.

In between, left-arm pacer Waqar Ahmed dismissed Shadab Kabir, bowled without playing a shot to a straight ball for 13, and Hasan Raza, magnificently taken behind by Zulfiqar in front of first slip, with the third and fifth balls of his opening over. Waqar then induced a false stroke from Saeed bin Nasir, who holed out to mid-wicket for 13.

Earlier, Peshawar's batsmen came and went in a regular procession after Moin invited them to bat first at the toss.

Handicapped by the absence of Akhtar Sarfraz and Riffatullah as well as Test star Younis Khan, Peshawar limped to 129 for six after Friday's extended three-hour morning session.

Tanvir, extracting lift from a responsive track, made life difficult for the visiting team with two wickets in his first three overs. He later returned after the break to end the innings by capturing three more in five balls as Peshawar lost the final four wickets in 11 balls for the addition of just two runs.

Opening batsman Zeeshan Mohsin, however, stood apart with a knock of 39 on his first-class debut. The 18-year-old left-hander came into prominence when he helped Peshawar clinch their first Under-19 Grade-I title last October with a century in each innings of the final against Lahore Blues.

The youngster played several exquisite cuts and drives while facing 50 balls. Going for a seventh four, Zeeshan slashed Mohammad Hasnain's first ball of a new spell to gully where Arif Mahmood dived low to his left and brought off a superb catch.