Ghani helps PIA beat Islamabad Leopards
http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Pakistan-International-Airlines-c831 (PIA) rolled over the Islamabad Leopards by an emphatic margin of eight wickets in a Group A fixture of the Faysal Bank National One Day Cup 2010-11 Division one on Friday. The clash was an important one for both teams as
they looked to build upon wins in the first round. PIA has traditionally been a strong unit in Pakistani domestic cricket, while the Leopards are also considered a dangerous team in the limited overs format.
Test cricketer and PIA captain, Khurram Manzoor, won the toss and elected to bowl first at the Diamond Club Ground in Islamabad. His decision was motivated by the fact that the Diamond Club track is known to offer some assistance in the initial stages of
the day. It did not turn out to be a bad decision and the home team lost three top order wickets with just 61 runs on the board. A brilliant knock by middle-order batsman, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Zeeshan-Mushtaq-c98588, made sure that Islamabad Leopards stayed in the match. The Leopards
reached a respectable score of 250 runs before being bowled out in the 49th over.
Zeeshan Mushtaq remained the top scorer for the Leopards with his 75 runs off 86 deliveries. Imad Wasim also made a valuable contribution as he made 45 runs off just 48 balls with the help of six fours. Their fifth wicket partnership put together 76 runs
for Islamabad and stabilized their innings. Opener http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Mazhar-c75448 Abbasi, who was making his debut in national one day cricket, impressed with a quick 39 runs including eight well placed boundaries.
The PIA bowlers all chipped in and right arm medium pacer, Anwar Ali, picked up three scalps for PIA while http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Aizaz-Cheema-c961 and Tahir Khan took a couple of wickets each.
Chasing a mediocre score to win the match and seal four important points, PIA was off to a good start. The squad never looked like it was in any kind of a trouble in the run chase. Left-handed top order batsman, Sheheryar Ghani, struck a superb ton and made
sure that PIA reached their target in the 44th over of the innings. They accomplished this at the expense of two wickets.
Sheheryar Ghani scored an unbeaten 105 runs off 111 balls in which he struck nine fours and a six. Faisal Iqbal also shined with a half century. He remained unbeaten while scoring 53 runs for which he consumed 60 balls. His knock also included four fours
and a couple of towering sixes. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Agha-Sabir-c950 and Captain Khurram Manzoor also scored important 30’s at the start of the innings but failed to carry on. Faisal Iqbal and Sheheryar Ghani scored 137 runs in their third wicket partnership.
None of the bowlers from the Islamabad side were able to dent the experienced batting lineup of PIA. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rauf-c84151 Akbar and Kamran Hussain were able to pick up a wicket each but the PIA batsmen shrugged off these loses and continued batting consistently.
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