Pakistan national team handed a 19- run defeat to Pakistan ‘A’ team

Lahore: Pakistan national team handed a 19-run defeat to Pakistan ‘A’ team in a well-contested match played here at jam-packed Gaddafi Stadium on late Saturday night. The Sports Board Punjab staged the T20 rubber with the collaboration of Pakistan Cricket Board.

Pakistan team won the toss and opted to bat first. All the players played well and helped the team post a decent total of 151-5 on the board in the allotted overs. It was captain Misbahul Haq, who led the team well and played a significant innings of unbeaten 41. Khuarram Manzoor was the star of the match as he remained top scorer with 59 runs while Asad Shafiq also played well and gathered 23 runs. Usman Shinwari though bowled extremely well and managed to grab first three wickets of national team yet he was not ably assisted well by others therefore they were unable to resist the national team to low total. Usman Shinwari clinched 3-22 while Ataullah got 1-20 and Fawad Alam 1-37.

In reply, ‘A’ team could manage to score 132-8 in the allotted overs. Neither any sparkling innings was witnessed from ‘A’ team nor any batsman managed to score fifty. Haris Sohail collected 28 runs, Anwar Ali 25 and Sharjeel Khan 21. National stars excelled in bowling too. Saeed Ajmal and M Irfan bowled brilliantly and claimed two wickets each  onceding 28 and 22 runs respectively.