Daily Times

LAHORE: Pindi Gymkhana opened their 20-K Cup T20 Cricket Tournament campaign on a winning note as they defeated hosts Model Town Greens by 19 runs in the opening match at Model Town Greens Ground here on Thursday. Pindi Gymkhana won the toss and elected to bat first. Their batters though couldn’t start well and kept on losing wickets on regular intervals yet their middle order batted with responsibility and helped their side post a decent total of 127-9 on the board. Wasif Khan emerged as the top scorer with 21 runs off 24 while Imtiaz Ali struck 20 and Nadeem Ahmad scored 19 runs. Ahmad Arif bowled well for Model Town Greens Club and clinched four wickets for 16 runs while Mirwais Khan grabbed two wickets for 18. In reply, Model Town Greens just fall short by 19 runs as they were bowled out on 108 in 17.4 overs. Ali Annar was the wrecker-in-chief of the host club’s batting line up as he grabbed four wickets for 22 runs. He was ably assisted by Zaib Butt (3 wickets for 21) and Asfand Mehran (2 for 16). From Model Town Greens, Bilal Dar (35), M Azeem (24) and Waris Khan (16) could cross the double figures while rest of the batters failed miserably and resulting in the defeat of the hosts. Ali Annar was declared player of the match for his brilliant bowling.

On Friday (January 6), two matches will be played. In the first match, Model Town Greens will take on P&T Gym while Cricket Center Club will play against Yu Slim Club in another match of the day. Both the matches will be played at 11:00 am. Before the inaugural match between Pindi Gymkhana and Model Town Greens Club, the opening ceremony of the prestigious event was held here at the Model Town Greens ground, which was graced by Nadeem Khan, Pakistan Cricket Board’s Director High Performance Centre Lahore, while Test cricketer Abid Ali, former cricketer Muhammad Ilyas, tournament organizer Shoaib Dar and others were also present on the occasion.