Paktia and Nangarhar B Advance to Grade One Tournament 2022

Paktia and Nangarhar B Advanced to Grade One Tournament 2022

Banking on twin hundreds from Rahman Zurmati & Yousuf Shah Zurmati and an all-round display from the skipper Haqmal Arya (41 runs with the bat and 5/20 with the ball), Paktia province crashed Parwan by a massive margin of 326 runs today to qualify for the Grade I tournament 2022. On the other hand, a fine century from Hizbullah Durrani led Nangarhar B to their 4^th consecutive win in the ongoing Grade II competitions 2022.

Earlier in the day, Kabul B were put in to bat by Ghazni in Kandahar Province, who had started really well with the ball as the right arm quick Faridoon picked a hattrick in his first three deliveries to leave Kabul B 1/3 in 1.3 overs. Ghazni bowlers kept bowling well as they restricted Kabul B to 192/10. Fazlullah scored 74 and Almas Sherzad contributed with 51 runs, while Faridoon took 4, Usman Zazai picked 3, Saifullah had 2 and Barakat bagged one wicket.

Ghazni did not start well and lost wickets at regular intervals with the off-spinner Babar Khan picking 5 wickets for Kabul B to help them bundle out Ghazni for 130/10. Alam Khan was the leading run-scorer for Ghazni with 26. Almas Sherzad got 2, Fazlullah, Nasrat and Azizullah Babro picked one wicket each. Babar Khan was named as the player of the match.

In the second match of the day, Paktia overcame an almost impossible task to qualify for the grade one event 2022. They had to chase 150 in 5 overs or restrict Parwan to less than 130 after posting 400 in the first inning to lift their net run rate past the table-toppers Khost B and reach the upcoming Grade I tournament. Surprisingly they did the same as they put on an excellent all round display to comprehensively go past Parwan by a massive margin of 326 runs to qualify for the grade one competitions 2022.

Paktia won the toss and elected to bat first. They lost their opener Jalat Khan early on but Rahman Zurmati and Yousuf Shah Zurmati shared 244 runs for the 2^nd wicket. Both scored centuries and have built a strong foundation for the other batters to come and finish the inning on a high. Skipper Haqmal Arya smashed 41 off just 16 deliveries before Muhib Zurmati struck 69 off 38 balls to lift the team total to a mammoth 419 in the 40 overs. Yousuf Shah made 130 and Rahman Zurmati struck 125 while Asif Delawer and Sediqullah Niazi took 5 and 4 wickets for Parwan province respectively.

After posting 419 on the board, Paktia province needed to restrict Parwan province between 1 to 153 runs to take their net past 1.659. Expectedly the bowlers, led by the skipper Haqmal Arya produced excellent bowling performances as they bundled out Parwan for just 93 runs to win the game by 326 runs, they took their net run rate to 1.960, which took them to the top of the table and advanced them to the Wazir Akbar Khan Grade One Tournament 2022, which is set to be played in March.

While this was happening in Khost, Nangarhar B went past Balkh to win their fourth game on the trot to advance to the Grade One event. They were put in to bat first by Balkh, a call to which the home side responded well. They scored 304 runs in 50 overs, thanks to a fine century from the youngster Hizbullah Durrani who made a run-a-ball 103. Abdullah Momand scored 46 while Hamayoon Shinwari struck an unbeaten 25* to take them past the 300 runs mark. Asad Matani, Ahamdullah, and Anwar Noori picked two whereas Kamil Kakar took 1 wicket.

Balkh put on a solid performance with the bat as they scored 215/3 in their 50 overs. Zafar Khan made an unbeaten century for the Balkh side whereas the skipper Asadullah Matani scored 46 runs, as they were beaten by 89 runs. Ikram Momand, Jameel Shinwari, and Sediq Fazli each got one wicket. Hizbullah Durrani was adjudged as the player of the match.

With this happens, the competitions in groups A, C, and E came to an end from where Helmand, Paktia, and Nangarhar B have advanced to the Grade One tournament. Tomorrow is an off day in the ongoing event, and the day after tomorrow, the competitions in three more groups B, D, and F will get underway.