The Karachi Dolphins demolished the Faisalabad Wolves today by a whopping 124 runs to become the first team to qualify for the Faysal Bank Super 8 T20 Cup Semi Finals.

Khalid Latif, the Pakistan under 19 world cup winning skipper, who played a couple of ODIs for Pakistan last year, knocked a superb double century in today's RBS Cup game between the Karachi Dolphins and the Quetta Bears.

Batting first, the Dolphins piled on 364-2 in their 50 overs with Khalid carrying his bat and scoring an unbeaten 204.

Khalid faced 163 deliveries for his knock and smashed 19 boundaries and 7 sixes.

This is the 2nd double century in domestic one day games in Pakistan, following Mohammad Ali's effort of 207 in the 2004-05 season.

Khalid's score is also the 5th highest score in all List A cricket and will fit in between Alvin Kallicharan's and Alistair Brown's in this list.

Khalid, who is captaining the dolphins in the ongoing RBS Cup, continued his good form in the competition with his 204* following his match winning 105 in the previous match against the Rawal Pindi Rams.

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The Pentangular Cup match between the 2 table toppers, Sindh and Federal Areas (FA), ended in dramatic fashion with FA scraping home with only a solitary wicket in hand, after Sindh skipper Shahid Afridi had sportingly declared the 2nd innings to give FA a target of 322 of 85 overs.

Taking 9 points from their win, FA displaced Sindh from the top of the standings.

Sohail Khan, who has wrecked havoc with the ball this season, picked up yet another 5 wicket haul, while Danish Kaneria and Afridi picked up 2 each to restricts FA to 295 in the first innings. Earlier Sindh had been dismissed for 222.

In response, the Pakistan prospects who had thus far failed to impress during the Pentangular, took the responsibility to guide Sindh to a high total in the 2nd innings. Openers Khurram Manzoor (73) and Khalid Latif (74) shared 119 run partnership, and then Faisal Iqbal knocked a fine century remaining unbeaten on 105 when Afridi declared the innings on 394-4 to give FA a target of 322.

FA were cruising at 174-2 when Afridi struck for the first time with his leg breaks. Afridi struck 4 more times in quick succession and FA were looking down the barrel at 262-7, but FA's tail wagged and an 8th wicket partnership of 37 and an unbroken last wicket parntership of 13 led them to an unlikely victory over the favorites.

On the final day, favorites Sindh comfortably reached their target of 309 owing to a well made century by opener Khurram Manzoor. Resuming their chase at 130-0, Khalid Latif and Khurram took the score to 161 before Khalid fell for 72. Khurram then continued his subdued and watchful innings in partnership with Naumanullah who fell leg bfore to Samiullah fo 35 after a 62 run partnership.

There was a minor hiccup at that point as Sindh collapsed from 223-1 to 226-4 as Naumanullah, Khurram (118) and Faisal Iqbal (0) fell in quick succession. From there on Fawad Alam (51* of 31 balls), who has played a handful of ODIs for Pakistan and skipper Shahid Afridi (29 of 34) took Sindh past the winning line.

Afridi praised all his team mates after the win saying "Sindh achieved a good result from the match. At one stage the home team was in a difficult situation but the team’s batsmen helped it achieve the victory target of 309." Afridi also mentioned that it was a team effort and that a come from behind win after conceding a 1st innings lead will help his to perform well in the remaining matches as well.

In the other game the Federal Capital batsmen held Punjab for a draw. The Capital Areas' effort was led by test discard Bazid Khan who scored a composed 172, and he was well supported by Usman Saeed (65) and Yasir Arafat (56*).

Results:

Sindh beat NWFP by 5 wickets. Sindh 6 points, NWFP 0.
Federal Capital Areas Drew with Punjab. Punjab 3 pioints, Federal Areas 0.

Now the tournament takes a break for a week due to the elections in the country and action will resume again on 22nd February with 2 more matches: Federal Capital vs Baluchistan and Punjab vs NWFP - the latter will be a cracker as it will pit Younis Khan vs the rest of the Pakistan middle order (Malik, Yousuf, and Misbah).

I also found out why skipper Shoaib Malik missed the 1st match. He was in Dubai recording an interview for GEO Tv and got stuck their due to a delayed flight and couldn't make in time for the match. Pakistani airlines I tell you. Actually all airlines these days.

On day 3 of the Pentangular Trophy, Pakistan opener Salman Butt hit a career best 290 to lead Punjab to an imposing total of 599-7 declared, leading Federal Capital by 216 runs. Salman past his previous first class best of 206 and scored at almost run a ball for his 290. What was most astonishing about his innings was the significent percentage of runs hat came from boundaries - he hit FIFTY 4s and a six. He got to his previous first class best in boundaries alone!

He was ably supported by Nasir Jamshed, who continued his amazing form this season with a polished 108. Nasir shared a 290 run 2nd wicket partnership with Salman. Nasir's knock was unlike his swashbuckling ODI innings against Zimbabwe and he took up 180 odd deliveries for his century. I hope that this boy is here to stay and he's not another Nazir or Farhat in the making.

Mohammad Yousuf hit a rapid 56 of as many deliveries with 9 hits to the fence, while Misbah (9) and Kamran Akmal (23) lost their wickets in an effort to score fast. The Capital bowlers led by Shoaib Akhtar were listless for the entire day. Akhtar and Yasir Arafat bowled 18 overs each without any luck, while Sohail Tanvir bowled 25 giving away over a 100 runs and picking up the lone wicket on the previous day.

Federal Capital ended day 3 on 37-3 with the top 3 back in the hut and still 179 behind Punjab with 1 day to go.

In the other game, Sindh turned the tables once more on NWFP and are on their way to victory needing another 179 runs with all their wickets intact.

Resuming their innings on 146-3, only 3 runs behind, NWFP folded for 254, as Pakistan leg spinner Danish Kaneria ran through their middle and lower order with 5 wickets. Danish ended with 5-62 of 25 overs and was well backed up by young pacer Anwar Ali (3-66). NWFP skipper Younis Khan was the only one to put up some resistance scoring 111 with 19 boundaries, before falling to the spin of his counterpart Shahid Afridi.

Chasing 309, the Sindh openers Khurram Manzoor and Khalid Latif batted watchfully to ensure they don't repeat their 1st inning failures. It paid of for them as Sindh ended the day on 130 without losing any wicket. Khurram was unbeaten on 74 and Khalid on 56.

So after a day of turning tables, the favorites Punjab and Sindh are back in the driving seats and look set to end victorious on the final day.

From a Pakistani point of view, the selectors should be pleased to see in-form openers led by Salman Butt and Nasir Jamshed, Khurram Manzoor, and Khalid Latif. Add Hafeez to that mix I think Pakistan has a decent pool to rely on in ODIs and Tests. Yousuf and Younis have also looked in good touch, while Kaneria's form with the ball is a good sign as he has had a below par domestic and international season.

Stay tuned for the final day's results.

Pakistan maybe playing a weak team but the series has been an important one for them after facing heavy defeats from stronger opposition. Before the series began there were talks of trying out new faces, especially openers, a keeper, and some pacers. Pakistan granted 3 debuts in the 3 ODIs thus far and you can expect more over the next 2 ODIs.

Nasir Jamshed has thus far impessed in all 3 outings and in the 3rd ODI he showed that he can also play a waiting game and is not only a smasher. Samiullah disappointed in both the ODIs he played, while the 3rd debutant, Kamran Hussain, impressed with both bat and ball in the 3rd game.

With Pakistan securing the series, the PCB have drafted in some more new faces in the squad for the last 2 ODIs. Khurram Manzoor, the leading opener of the ongoing domestic season, has been included at the expense of Salman Butt who failed in all 3 ODIs. Khurram will be vying for the openers slot with Khalid Latif. Sarfraz Ahmed also comes back into the squad as Kamran Akmal is 'rested'.

The last new face to be included in the squad is Wahab Riaz who is the 2nd highest wicket taker this season after Sohail Khan. He comes in place of Rao Iftikhar who had a very disappointing series. Surprisingly Yasir Arafat was dropped after only 1 game as the squad was trimmed to 14 for the last 2 ODIs.

Pakistan will grant atleast 2 more debuts tomorrow with one of Khurram or Khalid partnering Nasir at the top of the order and either of Sohail Khan or Wahab Riaz coming in instead of Yasir Arafat. Both of them could also be drafted into the XI if the selectors decide to include the other instead of Kamran Hussain.

Fawad Alam who has been in the squad for the last 3 ODIs has still not got a game and many people have criticized the fact that he has been in the squad for 2 years now and has only played 2 ODIs. The problem is that Fawad, being a spinner allrounder is a direct replacement of skipper Malik and Afridi, neither of whom can be replaced at the moment. Fawad cannot play instead of an opener nor can he replace one from the middle order. However, he is expected to play tomorrow with probably Afridi rested. I would rather rest Mohd. Yousuf as bringing in Fawad instead of a batsman brings more balance to the side who have thus far relied on only 5 bowlers, 1 of which is a part timer.

If I was chied selector, my XI for tomorrows game would be:

1. Nasir Jamshed
2. Khurram Manzoor
3. Younis Khan
4. Misbah ul Haq
5. Shoaib Malik
6. Fawad Alam
7. Shahid Afridi
8. Sarfraz Ahmed
9. Kamran Hussain
10. Sohail Tanvir
11. Sohail Khan

However, I sense Sallu will instead go for Khalid in place of Khurram and Yousuf instead of Afridi. I hope he grants Sohail Khan a game as I have been dying to see him bowl. Lets wait and watch.