Wasim to lead PIA today

Karachi, Sept 27: Pakistan captain Wasim Akram will make his first appearance on the domestic circuit in 20 months on Tuesday when he appears for Pakistan International Airlines (PIA) in a crucial Pool A National One-day Championship match against PNSC at the Defence Stadium.

Akram last appeared for PIA two seasons ago when he played in a Patron's Trophy match against Allied Bank at the National Stadium.

Akram will be leading PIA who have three wins from as many games. A victory on Tuesday will put them in the Oct 8 semi-finals. Their most likely opponents will be Allied Bank who are dominating Pool C.

However, a PIA defeat and Pakistan Customs win over Karachi Whites at the National Stadium will put PIA, Customs and PNSC equal at points. Net-run-rate will then come into effect. As situation stands at present PIA have a net-run-rate of 1.39 followed up by PNSC (0.57) and Customs (-0.61).

PIA will also be fielding Azhar Mahmood and Yousuf Youhana but have been restrained from including Abdur Razzak by the Domestic Tournament Monitoring Committee (DTMC)