The round 4 of Pentangular cup has started, in this round two matches are being played , Punjab V Baluchistan and Sind V Federal Areas. Sind is at the top of Points table with 12 points,and Federal Area’s team is 2nd on the points table with 9 points. Sind in both the matches, lost in the first innings and fought their way back to victory in the second innings, both matches were low scoring and Sind won them because of their bowling, their batting has not fired so far in the tournament, none of their batsmen is averaging in 40′s after 5 innings only one century was scored by any of their batsmen however Sohail Khan, Anwar Ali, and Danish Kaneria are sharing 39 wickets amongst each other after 5 innings. Skipper Afridi fired for the first time in the tournament and played a trademark innings of 70 from 49 balls the innings was played when his team was struggling and their backs were against the wall his bowling performance so far in the tournament has been low by his standards. Interestingly Fawad Alam was dropped in this match he was only given one over in the two matches he played and he scored 80 runs in 4 innings @ 26.6. It seems Sind will make it to the finals, in the current match against Federal areas they were trailing by 73 runs after the first innings but at the close of second days play they were 128 for 1, openers Kurram Manzoor and Khalid Latif gave them a stand of 119 runs Khurram fell after an aggressive 73 while Latif remained undefeated on 47.
Federal Areas team recieved a set back when Shoaib Akhter their captain was axed from the tournament after the first match, but Sohail Tanvir and Yasir Arafat held the Federal Areas bowling together Tanvir has taken the 18 wickets in the tournament, and Arafat 7. The real strength and the surprise punch of Federal Areas team came from their batting line up which consists of mostly un known names with the exception of test discard Bazid khan. Their batting has scored 7 100′s and 12 50′s in the tournament so far, 7 batsmen are averaging above 40 with Bazid Khan leading the pack with a whoping 477 runs from six innings @ an average of 79 with three big 100′s, he is followed by Naved Ashraf who has scored 350 from 5 innings @ an average of 70 with one 100 and two fifties. Due to some stellar batting performances Federal Areas team managed to draw against Punjab and NWFP.
A tenth-wicket stand of 13 between Usman Saeed and Shehzad Azam guided Federal Areas to a tense victory over Sind on the final day at the Diamond Club Ground in Islamabad.
Set a target of 322, Federal Areas were boosted by opener Umair Khan’s 106 before Shahid Afridi tilted the scales with his legspinners. Federal Areas were well placed at 262 for 5 before losing two wickets in quick succession without any addition to the score. Afridi later pegged away with quick lower-order wickets to give Sind a very realistic chance of winning, but the last-wicket pair hung on. Azam, the No.11, hastened his side’s victory with a quick 12 which came off five deliveries, including two fours. Afridi finished with figures of 5 for 55 off 21 overs.
Earlier, Faisal Iqbal carried on from his overnight score of 77 to score a century. He remained unbeaten on 105, off 160 balls, before the captain Afridi made a sporting declaration. Faisal’s overnight partner, Rizwan Ahmed, managed to add just one run to his score of 70 before he was dismissed by Sohail Tanvir.
Federal Areas 295 (Majif 72, Zaidi 87, Khan 5-56) and 322 for 9 (Umair 106, Afridi 5-55) beat Sind 222 (Afridi 70, Tanvir 5-58) and 394 for 4 decl (Latif 74, Iqbal 105*, Rizwan 71) by one wicket
Scorecard
Punjab 723 for 4 dec (Misbah 208*, Mahmood 94, Malik 60) beat Baluchistan 375 (Alam 84, Sadaf 55) and 220 (Alam 48, Aslam 51, Ahmed 47*) by an innings and 128 runs
Scorecard
Punjab has struggled with its bowling so far in the tournament, Junaid Zia, Wahab Riaz and Aizaz cheema , Abdur Rehman , Shoaib Malik and Hafeez have failed to impress any one, Punjab must be missing the services of Mohammed Asif who was supposed to join the team after the first match, also the fact that two of their fast bowlers were sent to Baluchistan didn’t help them much, they will have to win this match against Baluchistan if they have to fancy any hopes of playing the finals. Punjab’s batting line up is star studded and looks like Pakistan’s national team’s line up minus Younis Khan. Salman butt is leading the charts with 630 runs @ an average of 159 followed by Nasir Jamshed’s 323 runs @ an average 107, the third batsman who is averaging above 100 is Misbah ul Haq, Mohammed Yousuf played only one match and has not played since.
It took just 15 deliveries for Punjab on the final day to complete the formalities and seal a comprehensive innings and 128-run victory against Baluchistan in Sialkot. Baluchistan were on the brink of defeat overnight on 207 for 8 and the overnight pair of Imranullah Aslam and Tanvir Ahmed managed to add 13 more before Junaid Zia sealed the deal. Aslam fell shortly after reaching his half-century before Zia struck again the next ball to send back Azharullah, the No.11.
Appoint Afridi Captain !
Sindh’s latest defeat in the pentangular cup can be blamed on a brainless decleartion from the skipper Shaid Afridi. In my opinion this was an enterprising tactical and positive move all which current Pakistan captain Shoiab Malik lacks plenty of. Afridi has shown in the current pentangular ,AMB-AMRO 20,20 cup and captain the patrons 11 that he has skills and materials and enterprising tatics that could make an ideal and successful captain for Pakistan and therefore if I was in the managements seat I would appoint Afridi as captain for the following reasons.
1) He is positive to declare and play the game with speed and passion.
2) He has faith and promise in young players.
3) When he is captain he improves his own individual performance.
There is an argument that role models don’t make successful captains but look as M.S dhoni and how he changed the Indian team and results since took over in the captain’s boots. No need AFRIDI’S the man for the job.