LAHORE: Sudais Ahmed’s 95 and Muhammad Saim’s four for 29 helped Abbottabad U17 gain a 75-run lead at stumps on day one of the final triangular stage match of National U17 Cup against Lahore Region Blues U17 at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad on Friday.
With a place in the final against Rawalpindi U17 on the line, Abbottabad recovered from early setbacks to post 211 all out in 45 overs before bowling Lahore out for 139 in 39.4 overs by stumps.
Abbottabad’s opening batter Sudais Ahmed led the charge with 95 off 113 balls, striking 16 fours. After Abbottabad slipped to 22 for two, he stitched together a crucial 60-run third-wicket partnership with Mohammad Abuzar, who contributed 20 off 46 balls with three boundaries. Sudais then added a valuable 75-run stand for the fifth wicket with Arslan Hassan, whose quick-fire 32 came off 27 deliveries and included two fours and as many sixes.
Coming in to bat at no.8, Ammar Khan chipped in with a 24-ball 27, featuring two fours as many sixes. For Lahore Blues, right-arm pacer Sikandar Ali returned figures of 10-2-44-4 while off-spinner Yaqoob Khan claimed three for 62. In reply, Lahore Blues struggled to gain momentum as only three 0f their batters managed to get into double figures. Dawood Tauqeer top-scored with a patient 52 off 83 balls, smashing eight fours. Aliyan Qaiser (26, 46b, 3x4s, 1x6) and Ali Khokhar (25, 38b, 4s4s) made meaningful contributions as well. For Abbottabad, leg-spinner Muhammad Saim bagged four for 29 in 8.4 overs while Nafees Akhtar took two wickets for 29 runs.
