The opening day of the second round of the President’s Trophy Grade-1 was completely dominated by batsmen, as MIT’s Mohammad Farooq, Salman Khan Junior, Atique-ur-Rehman, Ghani’s Sharjeel Khan, and Kingsmen Academy’s Mohammad Tayyab Arif scored brilliant centuries. On Friday at Rawalpindi’s Shoaib Akhtar Cricket Stadium, MIT won the toss and elected to bat first. Openers Mohammad Farooq and Hasnain Nadeem (36 runs, 76 balls, 7 fours) established a 133-run partnership in just 21.5 overs.
Farooq completed his century in just 67 balls and broke the record of legendary batsman Majid Khan for the most sixes hit by a Pakistani batter in a first-class innings. This is Farooq’s third first-class century and his second consecutive one. After Farooq’s dismissal, Atique-ur-Rehman (142 runs, 137 balls, 17 fours, 2 sixes) and Salman Khan Junior (106 not out, 199 balls, 12 fours, 1 six) put on a massive 217-run partnership for the fourth wicket, putting Khan Research Laboratories’ bowlers in deep trouble. This was Atique’s second and Salman’s fifth first-class century. By the end of the day, MIT had scored 476 runs for the loss of 4 wickets in 87.2 overs.
Meanwhile, at Islamabad’s Diamond Cricket Ground, Ghani put up an impressive performance in both batting and bowling against SNGPL. Ghani first bowled out SNGPL for 152 runs in 41.5 overs and then scored 192 runs for the loss of 2 wickets in 41 overs by the end of the day.
After inviting SNGPL to bat first, Ghani’s fast bowlers Shoaib Akhtar Junior and Khurram Shehzad combined to claim 9 wickets, while Shoaib also ran out Umair bin Yousuf for 1 run. Shoaib took 5 wickets for 34 runs in 12.5 overs, marking his fourth five-wicket haul in first-class cricket. Khurram Shehzad took 4 wickets conceding 42 runs. In response, Sharjeel Khan played a blistering knock of 156 runs from just 120 balls to complete his 15th first-class century. His innings included 25 fours and 5 sixes. He shared a 186-run partnership for the second wicket with Khawaja Arham (33 not out, 114 balls, 2 fours). Earlier, Mirza Tahir Baig was dismissed for a golden duck.
At Peshawar’s Imran Khan Stadium, Kingsmen Academy was bundled out for 215 runs in 57.3 overs against the fierce pace bowling of OGDCL. However, captain Mohammad Tayyab Arif batted resiliently to score his maiden first-class century. Playing only his second first-class match, Tayyab came in to bat at number three when the team score was 20. He played a confident innings of 105 runs from 110 balls, featuring 14 fours and 3 sixes. Kingsmen Academy then lost 7 wickets for the addition of just 44 runs. Mohammad Suleiman (33 runs, 95 balls, 3 fours) and Salman Ali Agha (25 runs, 41 balls, 2 fours) failed to convert their starts into big scores. Fast bowler Mohammad Amir Khan claimed 5 wickets for 51 runs in 13 overs, while Mohammad Hasnain took 3 wickets for 36 runs in 12.3 overs, and Niaz Khan picked up one wicket. This is Amir Khan’s fifth five-wicket haul in his 28th first-class match.
At the Abbottabad Cricket Stadium, a tough contest was witnessed between State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) and Pakistan Television (PTV). At stumps, SBP had scored 278 runs for 9 wickets in 71 overs. Opener Hasan Raza scored 75 runs off 106 balls, while incoming captain Mohammad Ghazi Ghori made 66 runs off 79 blocks, both hitting half-centuries. Number seven batsman Rameez Aziz was unbeaten on 42 runs from 73 balls. For PTV, Musa Khan and Imad Butt took three wickets each, while Shaheen/Haris Rauf picked up two wickets after giving away 73 runs in 18 overs.
