Pakistan Television scored 13 runs in the last four balls off Wahab Riaz to chase 167 and beat National Bank of Pakistan by seven wickets at the Gaddafi Stadium. The loss was an upset for NBP, a team with a solid bowling line-up laden with some of the best spinners and pacers. Asked to bat first, NBP were off to a wobbly start before Fawad Alam (43 off 34) anchored two pivotal partnerships, of 54 with Usman Qadir (35 off 28) and 50 with Hammad Azam (27 off 19), to boost the total to 166. PTV, in reply, piled down the target in 19.4 overs as Haroon Ahmed (64* off 48) and Zeeshan Mushtaq (66 off 47) combined a 102-run stand for the second wicket.
State Bank of Pakistan ripped through United Bank Limited‘s batting line-up, beating them by 28 runs. SBP opted to bat but lost five wickets for 49 runs, while Farrukh Shehzad (72 off 61) and Rizwan Haider (22 off 17) held their nerves to help the side post 126. Spinners Atif Maqbool and Kashif Bhatti picked up five wickets between them. UBL lost their openers for ducks in reply, leaving their chase in trouble. However, Tariq Haroon (25) and Wajihuddin (50 off 41) tried to stabilise the innings but no other batsman could carry the momentum as they lost wickets at regular intervals to be restricted to 98 in 18 overs.
Group B
Water and Power Development Authority were beaten by Habib Bank Limited by seven wickets in a low-scoring encounter in Lahore. WAPDA’s decision to bat first backfired as no batsman scored big in the middle order and only Naed-ul-Hasan and Mohammad Ayub resisted with 23 and 26 respectively. Seamers Ehsan Adil, Umar Gul and left-arm spinner Mohammad Aslam picked up two wickets apiece to restrict WAPDA to 117 for 9. HBL lost their openers cheaply but Imran Farhat (32 off 21), Younis Khan (33*) and Hasan Raza (40* off 42) took down the modest target in 19.3 overs.
