President's Trophy Grade-I: OGDCL crush Kingsmen Academy in second round

PESHAWAR: Waqar Ahmed's unbeaten half-century propelled Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) to a resounding nine-wicket victory over Kingsmen Academy on the final day of their second-round President's Trophy Grade-I match here at the Imran Khan Cricket Stadium on Monday.

At the commencement of the fourth day's play, Waqar resumed OGDCL's 121-run pursuit alongside fellow top-order batter Umar Siddiq, with the scoreboard reading 85/1.

With just 36 runs more required to clinch their first victory of the tournament, Waqar and Umar took only 5.1 overs to steer them over the line, extending their overnight second-wicket partnership to an unbeaten 116.

Waqar remained the top-scorer for OGDCL in the run chase, making 75 not out from 94 deliveries, studded with six fours and a six, while Umar contributed with an unbeaten 74-ball 40.

Mohammad Umar remained the only wicket-taker for the Kingsmen Academy in the second innings, with his solitary scalp coming on the penultimate day when he dismissed left-handed opener Ali Zaryab for a golden duck with just five runs on the board.

At the Shoaib Akhtar Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi, Markhor IT (MIT) Solutions and the Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) settled for a draw after four days of action in their second-round match of the President's Trophy Grade-I.

The final day of the fixture got underway with KRL resuming their first innings from 423/5 in response to MIT Solutions' mammoth total of 660 and could add 67 more to their total for the remaining five wickets and were thus eventually bowled out for 490 in 158 overs.

Wicketkeeper batter Asim Ali, who dominated the MIT Solutions bowlers on the penultimate day and brought up a well-deserved century, resumed KRL's response alongside all-rounder Faheem Ashraf.

But Asim could add five more to his overnight score before being cleaned up by Asfand Ali on 116 after facing 275 deliveries and smashing 11 fours and two sixes.

Faheem, on the other hand, went on to score a cautious half-century and returned after making a 135-ball 69, comprising 10 fours.

Mohammad Nabeel was the standout bowler for OGDCL as he picked up three wickets for 77 runs in his 25 overs, followed by Mohammad Ismail and Asfand with two each, while Mohammad Imran, Samama Riaz and Atiq-ur-Rehman made one scalp apiece.

With a handy 170-run advantage in their favour, MIT Solutions could reach 167/9 in their second innings before stumps were drawn on the final day, resulting in the fixture concluding without producing a result.

Captain Hasnain Nadeem top-scored for MIT Solutions in the second innings with an anchoring half-century, making 62 off 103 deliveries, laced with eight fours. Besides him, only Rehman made a notable contribution with a 45-ball 34.

Iftikhar Ahmed spearheaded KRL's bowling charge in the second innings with a five-wicket haul, for which he conceded 18 runs and taking eight overs. Mohammad Junaid chipped in with two wickets, while Arshad Iqbal and Ahmed Bashir made one scalp apiece.

At the Abbottabad Cricket Stadium in Abbottabad, another second-round President's Trophy Grade-I match ended in a draw as the Pakistan Television (PTV) ran out of time to chase down the 293-run target against State Bank of Pakistan (SBP).

The final day of the fixture commenced with SBP resuming their second innings from 84/4, leading by 48 runs, and went on to pile up 328/8 in 83 overs before captain Ghazi Ghori declared, setting PCB a substantial target with just 12 overs of action left.

Experienced batter Abid Ali top-scored for SBP in the second innings with a cautious 67 off 157 deliveries, closely followed by Kashif Bhatti and skipper Ghori, who chipped in with 64 and 58, respectively.

Haris Rauf was the pick of the bowlers for PTV in the second innings as he bagged two wickets for 28 runs in his 10 overs, while Amad Butt, Mohammad Musa, Muhammad Shahzad, Saroon Siraj and Mohammad Taha made one scalp apiece.

Set to chase a daunting 293-run target, PTV could only reach 64/1 in 12 overs and thus settled for their second consecutive draw in the eight-team tournament.

Waqar Hussain remained their top-scorer with an unbeaten 26, followed by his fellow opener Yasir Khan with 20, while Shahzad made 16 not out.

Faham-ul-Haq remained the solitary wicket-taker for SBP in the second innings.

For the unversed, the third round of the President's Trophy Grade-I will run from September 24 to 27 across four venues in three cities.