| PESHAWAR: Test pacer Umer Gul will lead NWFP Panthers in the forthcoming cricketer RBS Pentangular Cup One-Day Tournament schedule this month.
Teams from Sind Dolphins, Federal Areas Leopards, Punjab Stallions, Balauchistan Bears and NWFP Panthers will be taking part.
NWFP captain Umar Gul had struck a timely blow to seal the title.
NWFP, who began the final as favourites, won all five games on the way to their first Pentangular title (the tournament has only been contested exclusively by provinces since 2005-06). They were comfortably the most stable side through the tournament, brushing aside the heavily-favored Sindh and Punjab, two provinces which have provided historically the bulk of the national team.
NWFP medium-pacers Shakeel-ur-Rehman and Junaid Khan - with the odd Gul cameo - were crucial to their side’s success and the highest wicket-takers, taking 55 wickets between them. The Pentangular ODI cup is due to begin from December 15, with the bulk of the tournament to be played in Karachi.
In a prestigious five-team competition, traditionally dominated by teams representing the departments and commercial institutions over the last 35 years or so, it was not until the 2007-08 season when the tournament was given an almost full provincial color.
Thus, last season Sind became champions of the Pentangular Cup title, with Federal Areas ending as runners-up. NWFP were third, but they remained a team not taken seriously. Baluchistan finished rock bottom and all Punjab could hold was a fourth position in the table.
NWFP won all their four matches, the first three with the full points, while they came back from 37 runs behind Punjab to gain their fourth straight triumph. Baluchistan performed their first giant-killing act when they defeated Sindh by a six-wicket margin in the second round.
Captain Umar Gul didn’t rejoin the NWFP in earlier matches but he joined the team in the final and gave a boost to the team attack while Younis Khan represented them in the last match against Punjab, scoring unbeaten knocks of 75 and 24 but later on he proceeded to South Australia to fulfill his professional commitments.
The team for the limited over game comprising, Umer Gull (Captain) Yasir Hameed (Vice Captain), Riffatullah Mohmand, Asad Shafiq, Aftab Alam, Wajid Ali, Aamir Sajjad, Adnan Raees, Shakil-ur-Rehman, Samiullah Niazi, Nawaz Ahmed, Khurram Shahzad, Mohammad Aslam Qureshi, Zulfiqar Jan (Wicket Keeper) Akbar Badshah. Reserves: Junaid Khan, Yasir Shah.
Following are the team:- Sindh Dolphins:
Shahid Afridi Captain, Vice Captain Rizwan Ahmed Khurram Manzoor, Khalid Latif, Asif Zakir, Naumanullah,Faisal Iqbal, Fawad Alam, Azam Hussain, Faisal Athar,Sohail Khan, Anwar Ali, Tanvir Ahmed, Fahad Khan and Sarfraz Ahmed (keeper), (Reserves) Farhan Ayub, Farhan Iqbal wicketkeeper.
Federal Areas Leopards: Shoaib Akhter captain, Raheel Majeed, Umair Khan, Babar Naeem, Umer Ameen, Usman Saeed, Bazid Khan,Yasir Arafat, Sohail Tnavir, Rao Iftikha vice captain, Saeed Ajmal, Afaq Raheem, Immad Wasim, Naeem Anjum (keeper).(Reserves) Muhammad Salman keeper, Aqeel Ahmed.
(Punjab Stallions)
Shoaib Malik captain, Salman Butt vice captain,Nasir Jamshed, Ahmed Shahzad, Azhar Ali, Umer Akmal, Adnan Raza, Mansoor Amjad, Muhammad Talha, Junaid Zia, Wahab Riaz,Abdul Rehman,Sarfraz Ahmed, Kamran Younis, Kamran Akmal keeper. (Reserves) Adnan Akmal keeper,Sohail Ahmed.
(Balochistan Bears)
Misbah ul Haq captain, Muhammad Hafeez vice captain, Shoaib Khan, Hammad Tariq, S aeed Bin Nasir, Saeed Anwar Jr, Abdur Rauf, Kamran Hussain, Gulraiz Sadaf (keeper), Nazar Hussain, Yasir Ali, Usman Arshad, Danish Kaneria, Khaqan Arsal, Fahad Iqbal. (Reserves) Usman Tariq, Faisal Irfan. |