Wasim strikes again as PIA triumph

Wasim Akram continued his excellent form with the ball as PIA cantered to a comfortable nine-wicket victory over Lahore Whites in the National One-day Cricket Championship tie at National Stadium here Sunday.

The champion left-arm speedster proved a handful for the inexperienced Lahore batsmen by claiming four for 18 in nine hostile overs.

Lahore Whites, who elected to bat first on pitch that promised a sackful of runs, were restricted to just 128 in 39.5 overs. Only skipper Salman Butt and Salman Qadir were able to come to terms with the star-studded bowling attack, led by the irrepressible Wasim Akram.

Salman Butt, who led Pakistan in the recent Under-19 World Cup in New Zealand, was last out for a 119-ball 41 - striking a solitary boundary - when off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq had him stumped by PIA captain Moin Khan.

Salman Qadir, son of former leg-spin legend Abdul Qadir, contributed an enterprising 39 at run-a-ball with the aid of six boundaries. The two Salmans were involved in a 59-run partnership for the seventhwicket.

Earlier, Wasim, who took three wickets against Bahawalpur Friday, produced a lethal burst of three wickets for three runs as the Lahorites crashed to 47 for six. All his victims, wicket-keeper Imran Butt, Atif Malik and Khaqan Arsal, departed without troubling the scorer.

Fazle Akbar, the right-arm pacer, chipped in with three wickets as he gave away 31 runs in 10 overs.

PIA then lost Ghulam Ali for 28 but Shoaib Mohammad (43 off 67 balls, seven fours) and Yasir Hameed (40 off 40 balls, six fours) guided their team home with more than 28 overs to spare.