16th National Seniors Cup: Knockout stage reached in South Punjab

Pakistan News & Features Services

Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan Tigers, Khanewal, Multan Whites, Arifwala and Sahiwal have reached the pre-quarter-finals in the South Punjab zone of the 16th National Seniors Cup Cricket Tournament 2014 whose league matches have concluded. 

Dera Ghazi Khan, Multan Tigers, Khanewal, Multan Whites, Arifwala and Sahiwal emerged champions in their respective groups, having remained undefeated in the league matches. The annual event for the seniors is being organized by the Pakistan Veterans Cricket Association (PVCA) and sponsored jointly by Arif Habib Corporation Limited and Omar Associates (Pvt) Limited. 

In the pre-quarters, Dera Ghazi Khan will be pitted against Bahawalpur Greens, Khanewal will be taking on Jampur, Multan Tigers will be confronting Khanewal Lions, Multan Whites will clash with Insaf, Arifwala will lock horns with Burewala Lions and Sahiwal will tackle Bahawalpur. 

Dera Ghazi Khan topped the Group A by securing a maximum of six points from the Group A in which Jampur ended runners-up with Rajanpur and Rahim Yar Khan having been eliminated after the first round. Multan Tigers headed the Group B with six points with Insaf ending as the runners-up and the duo of Muzaffargarh and Layyah bowing out of the competition. 

The Group C was led by Khanewal, who secured six points, while Bahawalpur Greens finished runners-up ahead of Bahawalpur and Lodhran. Multan Whites led the points table in the Group D while Khanewal Lions ended as the runners-up to knockout Multan Heroes and Mian Channu Stallions. 

The top honours in the Group E were clinchéd by Arifwala with Bahawalnagar having had to content with the runner-up slot as Pakpattan and Chishtian got out of the race. Sahiwal topped the table in the Group F with six points while Burewala Lions ended as the runners-up to which threw Vehari and Chichawatni out of the competition. 

A record number of 108 teams from 58 cities have entered the16th National Seniors Cup. The participating teams were divided in 24 Groups. They included 35 city teams from Punjab, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, eight from Sindh, three from Islamabad and one from FATA. The national final will be played between the winning teams of North and South zones at Lahore on May 4.