Hafeez, Malik & Afridi Help Tigers To 5-Wicket Win

Pakistan Tigers beat Pakistan Panthers by five wickets thanks to valuable knocks from Mohammad Hafeez, Shoaib Malik and Shahid Afridi in a practice T20 game here at the National Stadium on Wednesday.

Chasing 175 in energy-sapping conditions, the Tigers reached the target seven balls to spare. In-form opener Hafeez was the top scorer with 49 while Malik chipped in with 40 and Afridi hit a 21-ball 39 to guide their team to victory.

It was the fifth practice game of the national training camp in Karachi being held in preparations for the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup to be held in South Africa next month.

Pakistan’s top pacer Shoaib Akhtar missed the practice game because of a stiff neck which he said was a result of the dehydration he suffered from in Monday’s practice game.

Panthers won the toss and posted 174-5 in 20 overs. Opener Imran Farhat was in devastating form, hitting 71 off 43 balls with the help of two sixes and eight fours. Khalid Latif made 32 while Shahid Yousuf scored 30. Najaf Shah took two wickets but went for 49 runs.

Hafeez and Salman Butt (23) gave Tigers a good start. Hafeez’s 49 came off just 21 balls and included nine hits to the fence and a six. Afridi hit three sixes and two fours in his 39.

Scores: Pakistan Panthers 174-5 in 20 overs (Khurram Manzoor 6, Khalid Latif 32, Imran Farhat 71, Shahid Yousuf 30, Faisal Iqbal 2 Fawad Alam 10*, Najaf Shah 2-49, Mohammad Hafeez 1-33).

Pakistan Tigers 178-5 in 18.5 overs (Salman Butt 23, Mohammad Hafeez 49, Shoaib Malik 40*, Misbah-ul-Haq 3, Shahid Afridi 39, Abdul Razzaq 12, Mohammad Asif 5-0-57-1; Umar Gul 1.3-0-27-0; Sohail Tanvir 2.3-0-13-0; Abdul Rehman 4-0-19-1; Mohammad Irshad 2-0-36-0; Fawad Alam 3-0-21-2).