Afridi powers Habib Bank to 531
A round-up of the second day's play of Pentangular Cup matches, April 5, 2007
05-Apr-2007
Habib Bank Limited (HBL) captain Shahid Afridi powered his team to a first innings score of 531, on the second day of their Pentangular Cup Cricket Championship match against Punjab at the National Stadium.
At stumps, Punjab were 185 for 6 and still required another 196 runs to avert the follow-on. Kamran Akmal, the Punjab captain, top-scored with 56 off 98 balls with nine fours and a six.
After the openers, Imran Farhat and Hasan Raza (123), had hit hundreds in HBL's impressive 387 for 3 on the first day, Shahid Afridi hammered 86 off 54 balls that included five fours and six sixes. Farhat took his overnight 171 to 184 before being run out. He batted for 319 balls and hit 21 fours and two sixes.
Farhat's fourth-wicket parntership with Afridi produced 110 runs in quick time. Later, after three wickets had fallen for only 19 runs, Aftab Khan made 31 off 47 balls with six boundaries. Apart from Afridi, legspinner Danish Kaneria is also playing for HBL. He bowled 14 overs and took 2 for 67.
Punjab lost their first five wickets for only 96, including World Cup players Imran Nazir (24) and Mohammad Hafeez (29). Kamran Akmal added 77 runs for the sixth wicket with Naved Latif, who was unbeaten on 23.
Fast bowler Rao Iftikhar bowled 11 overs for Punjab and took 0 for 40. Hafeez's off-breaks fetched him 2 for 116 in 34 overs.
Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) gained a first-innings lead of 131 with five wickets in hand against the combined North West Frontier Province (NWFP)-Balochistan team on the second day at the United Bank Limited (UBL) Sports Complex.
After having dismissed NWFP for 221 on the opening day, KRL took their overnight score of 58 for 0 to 352 for 5. Saeed Bin Nasir scored an unbeaten 101 and added 155 with Ashar Zaidi for the fourth wicket. Ashar missed his eighth first-class hundred by just two runs, his 98 coming off 180 balls with 10 fours. Saeed's ninth first-class century took 171 balls and included 12 fours and a six.
Azhar Ali, 22, followed his innings of 84 and 115 not out in the first-round match against Habib Bank Limited (HBL) last week with another useful 56 off 137 balls with seven fours. His opening partner Saeed Anwar junior contributed 39 runs off 85 balls.