Teams chase targets successfully in National ODI cup opening day

All the teams successfully chased down the totals on the day one of National regions ODI cup. The first match was played at Marghzar cricket ground Islamabad where Lahore Whites invited Lahore Blues to bat first after winning the toss. Blues set a total of 272 runs on board in 50 overs for the loss of 7 wickets. Mohammad Saad remained unfortunate as he missed his century by 4 runs. Saad Nasim 44, Sami Aslam 44 and Kamran Akmal 41 runs were the other top scorers. Umaid Asif picked 3 wickets from Whites while Zafar Gohar got 2 and Mohammad Mohsin, Waqas Ahmed grabbed 1 wicket each. In reply, Usman Salahuddin steers his team to 2 wicket victory against Blues in 43 overs. Usman scored unbeaten 94 runs while Adnan Akmal with 45 runs was other successful batsman for Whites. Aizaz Cheema, Raza Ali and Muhammad Qaisar Ashraf got 2 wickets each while Bilawal Iqbal and Salman Ali Agha picked up 1 apiece.

Second match of the day was played between Rawalpindi and Islamabad Regions at Pindi cricket stadium where Rawalpindi after winning the toss, choose to field. Batting first, Islamabad managed to score 196 runs in 50 overs for the loss of 9 wickets. Faizan Riaz scored 53 runs and Shehzad Azam contributed 36 runs form Islamabad. Sohail Tanvir picked up 4 from Rawalpindi while Sadaf Hissain, Yasir Ali got 2 each and Saud Shakeel grabbed one wicket. Rawalpindi batsman dominated from the start and chased down the target in 40.1 overs for the loss of 6 wickets to win the match by 4 wickets. Iftikhar Ahmed remained not out on 61 while Naveed Malik contributed 61 and Azhar Ali scored 52. Hamza Nadeem and Raza Hasan picked up 2 wickets each while Mohammad Irfan and Arsal Sheikh got 1 apiece from Islamabad.

Karachi Whites and Faisalabad played their opening match at KRL group Rawalpindi where Karachi won the toss and elected to field first. Karachi bowling first sent back the whole Faisalabad side on 77 runs in 36 overs. Waqas Maqsood 13 and Misbah ul Haq 12 were the only 2 batsmen moved into double figures where Karachi gave away 17 extra runs also. Rahat Ali, Anwar Ali and Zia ul Haq picket up 3 apiece while Mohammad Asghar got 1 wicket. Karachi comfortably chased the target of 77 runs in 25 overs and won the match by 5 wickets. Waqas Maqsood got 3 while Asad Raza and Atif Jabbar got 1 each from Faisalabad.

Last match of the day was played between Peshawar and FATA at Diamond club ground, Islamabad and after winning the toss, Peshawar choose to ball first. FATA scored 219/10 runs in 46.4 overs. Khushdil Shah 61 and Fawad Khan 39 were the top runs scorers from FATA. Taj Wali, Azizullah, Zohaib Khan and Akbar Badshah picked up 2 wickets each while Imran Khan sent back 1 batsman from Peshawar. Sahibzada Farhan 88, Ashfaq Ahmed 58 and Mohammad Rizwan 40 not out helped Peshawar to win the match by 7 wickets as they chased the target in 45.1 overs for the loss of just 3 wickets. Sohail Akhtar was the most successful bowler from FATA as he grabbed 2 wickets while Asif Afridi got 1.