KARACHI  - On the third day of second round of the President’s Trophy Grade-I, KRL and SNGPL won their games as they beat Ghani Glass and PTV respectively. KRL’s one-wicket victory over Ghani Glass became the high­light of this round. 

The game between HEC and Wapda will go into day four after a hard-fought day three. SNGPL’s Arif Yaqoob had a memorable day as he raced to his maiden first-class ten wicket haul in a match winning perfor­mance against PTV. 

Wapda require 106 runs to win with six wickets in hand as they closed day three with 114- 4 on the board, while in pursuit of 220. Wapda had an unexpect­ed start to their chase as both opening batters, Mohammad Saleem and Hassan Abid Kiyani, were dismissed for one run each with the scorecard reading 2-2. Umar Akmal (61*) played a crafty knock while keeping one end secure. 

HEC managed two more wick­ets from the other end as expe­rienced duo of Iftikhar Ahmed (20) and Mohammad Saad (15) departed for low scores. Ayaz Tasawar (8*) will be on the crease to start the proceedings on day four with Umar as Wap­da will look to chase the target. 

Earlier, HEC managed to add 172 runs in their overnight total of 111-2, on day three, getting bundled out for 283. Batting at No 7, wicketkeeper batter, Ghazi Ghouri (110, 118b, 17x4s) struck a brilliant century to help his team post a respectable tar­get. He was aided by M Mohsin Khan (60). Wapda’s skipper If­tikhar led from front and picked up three wickets. Irfanullah Shah also returned with three scalps while Naqeeb Masood and Asif Afridi bagged two each. 

KRL sealed a memorable vic­tory against Ghani Glass as they won by just one wicket while chasing 123 in the dying mo­ments of the day three. KRL’s pursuit of 123 had faltered at the start when they were re­duced to 67-6. Their last four batters, Kashif Ali (30*), Shayan Sheikh (9), Sirajuddin (5) and Arshadullah (8) faced a com­bined total of 100 balls and added 52 vital runs to the total. 

Kashif Ali top scored for KRL while batting at No 8. He spent crucial time in the middle mak­ing sure his team ekes out the win while wickets fell on the oth­er end at regular intervals. Gh­ulam Mudassar and Niaz Khan’s four wicket-hauls went in vain as the Ghani Glass bowling attack failed to pick up the last wicket. 

Earlier in the day, Ghani Glass started their second innings with a lead of 43 but they were soon bundled out for a pal­try 79 in 26.2 overs. Kashif Ali and Sirajuddin picked up four wickets each while Arshadullah played the supporting role with two wickets. KRL will face HEC on 28 December at UBL Sports Complex while Ghani Glass will lock horns with PTV on the same date in next round of the President’s Trophy. 

SNGPL beat PTV by eight wick­ets, to register their first win of the tournament. PTV started their second innings from the over­night score of 66-0. Both opening batters, Hasan Nawaz (69) and Nasir Nawaz (62), struck fluent half-centuries taking the opening partnership to 130. 

Leg-spinner, Arif Yaqoob, who registered the figures of 10-177 in his maiden first-class appearance, enforced PTV’s collapse when he got Nasir out. Soon, he dismissed skipper Uzair Mumtaz and Daniyal Hus­sain Rajput for ducks. Hasan Mohsin (21) and Taimur Khan (7) resisted for a while, before the team was dismissed for 189. 

Arif bagged six wickets. Mo­hammad Ali returned with two scalps while Bilawal Bhatti and Mohammad Awais Anwar picked up one wicket each. SNGPL chased PTV’s target of 85 in 21 overs with eight wick­ets in hand. Sahibzada Farhan (51) struck a fine half century to direct the chase. SNGPL will now face State Bank of Paki­stan (SBP) on 28 December at SBP Stadium.