ABBOTTABAD – MIT Solutions’ pacers Raza Ullah and Shahab Khan shared seven wickets between them as they helped their team dismiss Sahir Associates on 272 in 66.2 overs on day one of the final of President’s Trophy Grade-II at the Abbottabad Cricket Stadium on Thursday.
After winning the toss and putting Sahir Associates in to bat first, Raza landed an early blow by removing opening batter Saad Athar on a golden duck. Fahad Usman (26) and Asim Ali Nasir (25) then constructed a 53-run partnership for the second wicket before the latter was removed by Raza.
Soon after, right-arm pacer Kaleem Ullah Khan got rid of Fahad as Sahir Associates found themselves 63-3 after 16 overs. Muhammad Saleem (58) and Ahmer Ashfaq (43) knitted together a 67-run partnership before Raza returned to break the alliance removing the latter in the 36th over as the scoreboard read 130-4.
Mohsin Khan (34) and Muhammad Kashif (27) chipped in with handy runs to take their team to cross the 200-run mark. Sahir Associates’ tail added 39 runs to the total before their innings was wrapped up.
Raza returned figures of 13.2-1-41-4 while Shahab picked up three wickets after giving away 58 runs in 15 overs.
At stumps, MIT Solutions found themselves 46-1 after 16 overs. Opening batter Husnain Nadeem was dismissed for 18, while Zain Ishaq remained unbeaten on 21. The duo had put on 35 runs for the opening stand off 12.4 overs.
