da blaze casino： Wasim Akram continued his excellent form with the ball as PIA canteredto a comfortable nine-wicket victory over Lahore Whites in theNational One-day Cricket Championship tie at National Stadium hereSunday
11-Mar-2002Wasim Akram continued his excellent form with the ball as PIA canteredto a comfortable nine-wicket victory over Lahore Whites in theNational One-day Cricket Championship tie at National Stadium hereSunday.The champion left-arm speedster proved a handful for the inexperiencedLahore batsmen by claiming four for 18 in nine hostile overs.Lahore Whites, who elected to bat first on pitch that promised asackful of runs, were restricted to just 128 in 39.5 overs. Onlyskipper Salman Butt and Salman Qadir were able to come to terms withthe star-studded bowling attack, led by the irrepressible Wasim Akram.Salman Butt, who led Pakistan in the recent Under-19 World Cup in NewZealand, was last out for a 119-ball 41 – striking a solitary boundary- when off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq had him stumped by PIA captain MoinKhan.Salman Qadir, son of former leg-spin legend Abdul Qadir, contributedan enterprising 39 at run-a-ball with the aid of six boundaries. Thetwo Salmans were involved in a 59-run partnership for the seventhwicket.Earlier, Wasim, who took three wickets against Bahawalpur Friday,produced a lethal burst of three wickets for three runs as theLahorites crashed to 47 for six. All his victims, wicket-keeper ImranButt, Atif Malik and Khaqan Arsal, departed without troubling thescorer.Fazle Akbar, the right-arm pacer, chipped in with three wickets as hegave away 31 runs in 10 overs.PIA then lost Ghulam Ali for 28 but Shoaib Mohammad (43 off 67 balls,seven fours) and Yasir Hameed (40 off 40 balls, six fours) guidedtheir team home with more than 28 overs to spare.