Ali Sheikh
PESHAWAR: PPC Qalandars beat PPC Zalmi by 29 runs in the opening match of the second edition of RMI Media Cricket League on Wednesday. Speaker KP Assembly Asad Qaiser inaugurated the event.
This is the 2nd edition of the Media Cricket League organized by Peshawar Press Club for as part of healthy activities for the journalist community.
PPC Qalandars after winning the toss opted to bat first. But their strong opening pair failed to score as hard hitting Mehmood was bowled by Fahad in just second over of the match. At one point Qalandars were reduced to 28 for 3 as opening spells by Fahad and Zawar gave no chance to the batsmen to play free shots. Aftab then came to bat and made 19 runs hitting one six and one four in his 9-ball stay at the wicket. Aftab provided the platform Qalandars needed to score a fighting total. After Aftab, Qalandars captain Adil Pervez came to bat and he along with Akhtar Amin played superb shots all around the ground taking full advantage of some wayward bowling by Zalmi.
Akhtar Amin hit three consecutive towering sixes in one over before being bowled by Niaz. He faced only four balls for his 18 runs, while adil also hit one four and one six in his 12 runs. Durrani also score 17 runs off just four balls hitting two huge sixes and one four. Anwar remained not out on 8 runs. Qalandars scored 60 runs in the last three overs as they end their innings with 119 runs for the loss of 8 wickets in the allotted 10 overs. Fahad was pick of the bowlers with three wickets while Zawar and Niaz took two wickets each.
In response Zalmi managed to score only 90 runs as the Qalandar bowlers bowled superb and gave no room to Zalmi batsmen. Captain Adil Pervez took three wickets while Aftab took two wickets. From Zalmi only Zawar (25) and Ihsan (10) entered double figures. Aftab was named Man of the Match for his all round performance.
President Peshawar Press Club Alamgir Khan, General Secretary Shahab ud Din, Chairman Sports Committee Yasir Ali, Manager Administration of RMI Maj (retd) Syed Naveed ul Haq Jilani, Public Relations Officer of RMI Sajjad Khan, SSP Traffic Yasir Afridi and Marketing Director of Top Up mineral water company Faheem Khan was also present on the occasion.
It is pertinent to mention that RMI, Top Up, Directorate of Sports KP and Traffic Wardens Police sponsored the event.
Fourteen teams are participating in the event the first phase of which will be played at Government Shaheed Hasnain Sharif Higher Secondary School No. 1 while the knock-out stage will be played at Arbab Niaz Stadium. Final will be played on April 28.
