PPC Qabails off to a flying start in RMI Media Cricket League

F.P. Report

PESHAWAR: PPC Qabails off to a winning start in the RMI Media Cricket League being played at Government Shaheed Hasnain Sharif Higher Secondary School No. 1 when on Wednesday in their opening match Qabails comprehensively beat PPC Zalmi by 8 wickets.

After winning the toss Qabails put Zalmi to bat first. In the very first over Qabails Captain Bilal Afridi bowled Ihsan but after the wicket Zalmi scored freely and Ajmal along with Taimur made some quick runs. However, Bilal once again gave the breakthrough by taking the wicket of Taimur. He made 13 runs before being caught by Niaz. Ajmal kept on scoring runs as Zalmi reached fifty in just fourth over of the innings. Ajmal and Adnan hit three towering sixes in one over of Wisal Yousafzai as Zalmi reached 63 runs in first five overs of the match. But Ajmal after hitting two more sixes in next over of Irshad was finally caught by Qari Zia in the same over. Qabails captain Bilal then brought Qari Zia for bowling who bowled a brilliant line giving away just 13 runs in two over and taking two wickets. Bilal was also superb in his last over giving away only 6 runs in the last over as Zalmi finished their innings at 107 for six wickets.

In response, Qabails made a steady start through their openers Ali Sheikh and Irshad. In the first two overs they score only 13 runs but then Irshad opened his arms and accelerated the scoring rate by hitting shots all over the ground. The first wicket of Qabails fell in the fourth over when Ali Sheikh trying to accelerate the innings after hitting Zawar for six was bowled by the same bowler on very next ball. He made 15 runs. But the tone of the match has been set by then. Shahid Afridi came to bat and he along with Irshad kept on scoring on ease. Irshad was finally caught by Ajmal on his own bowling. He made 41 off just 20 balls. Shahid hit three sixes in his unbeaten innings of 26 runs. Niaz also remained not out for 8 runs as PPC Qabails finished the match in the 9th over with nine balls remaining. Irshad was named Man of the Match.

Earlier, in the first match of the day PPC Markhor outplayed PPC Azmari by eight wickets chasing the small target of 68 runs in less than six overs. Batting first Azmari managed to score only 68 runs as Iftikhar and Shakeel shared three wickets each while Gul Rehman Haqani grabbed two wickets.  Hayat was top scorer with 17 runs. Ali (14) and Kamran (10) were the only two other batsmen to enter double figures. In reply Markhor reached the target in the sixth over with Rauf scoring 40 unbeaten runs. He hit four sixes and three fours in his 17 balls innings.

Sana Ullah and Usman were the umpires in both the matches while Imran Yousafzai and Adnan were the scorers.