RAWALPINDI: A dominating half-century from Kamran Akmal moved Lahore Whites to the top of the table as they crushed Rawalpindi by 28 runs in the National Twenty20 Cup at Pindi Stadium here Sunday. Kamran hit four sixes and seven fours, with 52 of his 65 runs coming from boundaries, in his blistering 37-ball knock. It came against a Rawalpindi bowling attack that has seen four of its five bowlers play internationally for Pakistan, but Kamran, with capable support from Sami Aslam and younger brother Umar Akmal took the Whites to 178. Rawalpindi were off to an aggressive start, with Umar Amin and Zain Abbas helping them maintain a run rate around 10 in the Powerplay. But wickets kept tumbling, and in the absence of a player able to play the sort of knock Kamran had for the Whites, Rawalpindi began to collapse. By the end, it had long been a foregone conclusion, with the bowlers, Bilal Asif in particular (2 for 20), helping themselves to wickets and keeping the hosts well away from a sniff of victory. A rapidfire lower middle order partnership between Pakistan skipper Sarfraz Ahmed and Anwar Ali helped Karachi Whites to a tight last over win over Peshawar in the day’s second game at the same venue. Tottering at 94 for 5, with 62 still to win, in 6 overs, Anwar Ali launched a blistering attack on Peshawar’s bowling, smashing 41 off 20 balls. His domestic and international captain Sarfraz confined himself to a supporting role with 28 off 20 as their side sealed the win with three balls and four wickets to spare. Peshawar would be bitterly disappointed not to have put the game out of reach in the first innings. It certainly looked that way in the first ten overs as they brought up the team hundred before half the innings was done. Openers Rafatullah Mohmand and Israrullah each scored 50, but crucially, both were dismissed without adding to that number within five balls of each other. The rest of the order failed to keep the momentum going, and Karachi Whites began to stifle them. Zulfiqar Babar and Azam Hussain were economical and menacing, while even Asad Shafiq snared two wickets in as many overs. In the end, Peshawar very nearly defended the 155 they did manage in the end, but paid dearly for not taking advantage when they had their opponents under pressure. Published in Daily Times, November 20th 2017.