Imam-ul-Haq marked his return to competitive cricket with an unbeaten double century, piling on 200 not out for Oil and Gas Development Company Limited (OGDCL) against Ghani Glass on the third day of round seven of the President’s Trophy Grade-I at the LCCA Ground in Lahore on Wednesday.
Resuming on an overnight 118 not out, the left-hander batted on through the morning session to reach 200 off 311 balls, hitting 19 fours and two sixes before OGDCL declared. His innings anchored the team to 410 for 9, a lead of 178 runs over Ghani Glass, who had been bowled out for 232 in their first innings. Saad Khan chipped in with 88 and Ali Zaryab made 42 as OGDCL built a commanding position, while Ghani Glass’s Ubaid Shah was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 5 for 131.
Chasing quick wickets to force a result, OGDCL struck three times in Ghani Glass’s second innings before stumps, leaving the visitors on 82 for 3 — still 96 runs behind with two days of play left. Hashim Ibrahim and Sharjeel Khan were both unbeaten on 34 at the close.
| Round 7 Match (Day 3, at stumps) | Position |
|---|---|
| OGDCL vs Ghani Glass (Lahore) | OGDCL 410/9 dec; Ghani Glass 232 & 82/3 (trail by 96) |
| KRL vs SNGPL (Rawalpindi) | KRL 234 (2nd innings); SNGPL 87/4, chasing 191 (need 104 more) |
| PTV vs MIT Solutions (Islamabad) | PTV 64 & 394 (following on); MIT Solutions 412 (need 47 to win) |
| SBP vs Kingsmen Academy (Islamabad) | SBP 398; Kingsmen Academy 371 & 166/2 (lead by 139) |
At the Rawalpindi leg of the same round, Mohammad Rizwan — recalled to domestic cricket alongside Imam — was unbeaten on 22 for SNGPL as they chased down KRL’s target, with Mohammad Faiq top-scoring for KRL with 66 before Shehzad Gul (5 for 61) and Shahnawaz Dahani (3 for 66) ran through the innings.
Imam’s big innings is his first since the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) quietly lifted a months-long domestic ban that had kept both him and Rizwan out of the President’s Trophy since it began in September. Both players were withdrawn from the Test squad ahead of the third and final Test against England earlier this year — a match Pakistan went on to lose to complete a 3-0 series whitewash — after the National Cyber Crime Investigation Agency (NCCIA) opened a probe into alleged betting and gambling activity and confiscated their phones. The PCB initially cited a missed pre-season fitness test for withholding Imam’s domestic clearance, before it emerged that the real reason was the ongoing NCCIA inquiry. Rizwan, for his part, took his grievance to the ICC and challenged the agency in the Lahore High Court, though his petition was dismissed. Neither the PCB nor the NCCIA has issued an official statement explaining why the two players were cleared to return in time for round seven, which began on Monday.
Our Opinion
A double century answers questions about form, not about the process that kept Imam-ul-Haq out of competitive cricket for weeks over an investigation the PCB and NCCIA have yet to explain in public; quietly reinstating two senior players without a word on how or why the probe was resolved leaves fans, teammates and the players themselves guessing, and that kind of silence invites more speculation than it prevents. PakDaily will be watching whether the board eventually addresses the NCCIA inquiry on the record, and whether Imam’s form with the bat translates into a recall to a national side still searching for answers after its Test whitewash in England.
