Published: Apr 19, 2016, 08:26 PM (IST)
Edited: Aug 30, 2016, 07:43 PM (IST)
Hello and welcome to CricketCoutnry’s live blog coverage of the very first match of the Pakistan Cricket Cup 2016, between Balochistan and Punjab (Pakistan). The match is being played at Faisalabad. The Pakistan Cup 2016 is a new one-day tournament that will be held among five teams: Sindh, Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, and Islamabad. Sarfaraz Ahmed (Sindh), Shoaib Malik (Punjab), Younis Khan (Khyber Pankhtunkhwa), Azhar Ali (Balochistan) and Misbah-ul-Haq (Islamabad) are the captains. Each team will play 4 matches apiece, with the top two qualifying for the final. The tournament will end on May 1, and will aim to boost young Pakistan talent by giving them the chance to play alongside senior international players. All the games would be played at the Iqbal Stadum in Faisalabad. READ: Pakistan Cricket Cup 2016 schedule: Match time table with ground details
Live Cricket Score Punjab: 203 | Overs 49 | BATSMEN: Amad Butt 33(49) | Punjab managed to give a real fight, but they have not managed to sneak through. The Balochistan bowlers were just too good. Umar Gul was the star with his 3 wickets and Junaid Khan bowled well to take 2 scalps also. OUT! Zulfiqar Babar 14(21) b Junaid Khan, Ehsan Adil 3(8) c Usama Mir b Umar Gul
Live Cricket Score Punjab: 159/8 | Overs 40 | BATSMEN: Amad Butt 7(18), Zulfiqar Babar 4(6) | Punjab are absolutely struggling here. Sohail Tanvir and Junaid Khan have returned to complete the rout. The match isn’t over of course, but it may as well be. OUT! Saif Badar 21(17) b Junaid Khan
Live Cricket Score Punjab: 135/7 | Overs 35 | BATSMEN: Saif Badar 14(11), Amad Butt 0(0) | Oh dear, it’s all unravelling here for Punjab. (The same can be said of Kings XI Punjab over in IPL). OUT! Akbar-ur-Rehman 8(6) c Mohammad Hasan b Umar Gul, Shoaib Malik 2(5) b Azhar Ali, Aamer Yamin c Usama Mir b Mohammad Nawaz 7(13)
Live Cricket Score Punjab: 112/4 | Overs 30 | BATSMEN: Akbar-ur-Rehman 8(4), Shoaib Malik 1(1) | Asad Shafiq and Mohammad Rizwan are batting well, but they need to pick up the scoring rate. As things stand right now they are getting the runs but at a slow rate. OH GONE! Shafiq is back in the hut. ANOTHER! Now Rizwan follows. OUT! Asad Shafiq 33(57) st Mohammad Hasan b Azhar Ali, Mohammad Rizwan 39(52) LBW Azhar Ali
Live Cricket Score Punjab: 86/2 | Overs 25 | BATSMEN: Asad Shafiq 29(46), Mohammad Rizwan 26(38) | This has been a useful partnership for Punjab, both Asad Shafiq and Mohammad Rizwan have been excellent. They need another 130 runs from 25 overs. It is time for one these two players to show just a bit more urgency.
Live Cricket Score Punjab: 38/2 | Overs 15 | BATSMEN: Asad Shafiq 7(23), Mohammad Rizwan 0(1) | Shan Masood has been scratching around for a while now but he has not managed to put bat to ball with a whole lot of success. Asad Shafiq taking it easy at the other end as well. OH GOT HIM! Masood’s lacklustre innings has ended. OUT! Shan Masood 18(40) c & b Usama Mir
Live Cricket Score Punjab: 27/1 | Overs 10 | BATSMEN: Shan Masood 14(31), Asad Shafiq 2(3) | Soahil Tanvir and Junaid Khan have opened bowling without much success, so on comes Umar Gul. This is a powerful bowling attack that Balochistan have, but they need a few wickets here. OH GONE! Butt’s brief comeback ends with a caught and bowled, Gul breaks through. OUT! Salman Butt 9(26) c & b Umar Gul
Live Cricket Score Punjab: 12/0 | Overs 5 | BATSMEN: Salman Butt 4(17), Shan Masood 7(13) | Salman Butt, infamous for engaging in spot-fixing while captaining Pakistan in a tour to England has come out to open batting. Mohammad Aamer has made a successful return to the Pakistan national side, but people have been less welcoming of Butt. He is opening here with Shan Masood.
Balochistan is led by Pakistan’s ODI skipper Azhar Ali. The Pakistan Cricket Cup 2016 will see a total of 75 top cricketers of Pakistan play, barring Shahid Afridi and Wahab Riaz. Balochistan face off against Punjab in the opening match of the tournament and will be a clash between two of Pakistan’s best cricketers in Azhar and Misbah-ul-Haq, who is going to lead Punjab. The tournament will witness a total of 11 matches and all the games will be played at the same venue, which holds a capacity of 28,000 people.
Teams:
Balochistan: Azhar Ali (c), Babar Azam, Mohammad Hasan (wk), Umar Akmal, Shahid Yousuf, Mohammad Nawaz (3), Ghulam Haider, Sohail Tanvir, Usama Mir, Umar Gul, Junaid Khan.
Punjab: Salman Butt, Aamer Yamin, Shoaib Malik(c), Mohammad Rizwan (wk), Asad Shafiq, Akbar-ur-Rehman, Saif Badar, Aamer Yamin, Zulfiqar Babar, Amad Butt, Ehsan Adil.
