Malik's 50 Helps Tigers Beat Panthers

Skipper Shoaib Malik’s 41-ball fifty helped Pakistan Tigers to record a 20-run win over Pakistan Panthers in a practice Twenty20 game held here at the National Stadium under floodlights on Sunday.

Malik hit three fours and a six in his 51 as the Tigers posted 153-7 in 20 overs. Their bowlers later came out with tight spells to restrict the Panthers to 133-4 in 20 overs.

It was the penultimate game of a series of practice matches being held in preparation for the inaugural Twenty20 World Cup to be held in South Africa from September 11-24 and the first to be played under floodlights.

The Tigers won the toss and managed a respectable total thanks to Malik’s crucial knock and another solid contribution from Naveed Latif, who made 40 off just 23 balls. Young pacer Mohammad Irshad took 2-27 in three overs.

Yasir Hameed made an unbeaten 49 off 35 balls while young opener Khalid Latif chipped in with 36 but the Panthers were still unable to get anywhere near the victory target. The last of the practice games was scheduled to be held on Sunday night.

Today is the final day of the Karachi training camp and the players will have a final physical training session.

The 15-man Pakistan squad is to be announced by August 8 and the selected players will assemble in Lahore for a final training camp from August 19 before the T20 World Cup.

Scores:

Pakistan Tigers 153-7 in 20 overs (Salman Butt 24, Mohammad Hafeez 8, Kamran Akmal 4, Shoaib Malik 51, Shahid Afridi 16, Naveed Latif 40, Misbah-ul-Haq 2, Mohammad Asif 4-0-17-0; Umar Gul 4-0-34-0; Abdul Rehman 4-0-40-1; Mohammad Irshad 3-0-27-2; Fawad Alam 2-0-15-1; Sohail Tanvir 3-0-20-1).

Pakistan Panthers 133-4 in 20 overs (Imran Farhat 22, Khalid Latif 36, Yasir Hameed 49*, Shahid Yousuf 1, Faisal Iqbal 6, Fawad Alam 17*, Mohammad Sami 3-0-20-0, Rao Iftikhar 3-0-15-0; Mohammad Hafeez 4-0-16-1; Shahid Afridi 4-0-25-1; Shoaib Malik 3-0-23-0; Najaf Shah 3-0-33-1).

Toss: Pakistan Tigers

Result: Pakistan Tigers won by 20 runs

Umpires: Riazuddin and Afzaal Ahmed

Scorer: Mohammad Ahsan