If the second-day honours in the final of the Patron's Trophy were won by National Bank, the third day certainly belonged to Pakistan Customs. The tables turned dramatically as the events at Gaddafi Stadium took a dramatic twist. Nadeem Iqbal, the right-handed pace man, bowled with fire and venom to claim a five-wicket haul, thus, bringing Customs on the brink of victory at the end of third day in this absorbing encounter.

Having started the third day with little hopes of survival, the Customs side sprung amazingly back to not only snatch the upper hand but also giving them a fair chance of picking the coveted trophy.

Starting the day with 245 for seven, the Customs players applied themselves perfectly to the task. The last three wickets added 96 runs to the total, including a ninth wicket stand of 65 between Wasim Yousufi and Stephen John, taking the score to 321.

Yousufi seems to be in excellent form in this final, as after taking four catches in the National Bank, he contributed with a handy 54 to boost his team's total.

And when it came their bowler's turn to have a go, they did an excellent work in restricting the opposition to 110 in their second innings. Nadeem Iqbal proved to be the main tormentor taking five wickets for 27 in 16 overs. Stephen John took 2 for 24, whereas the trio of Azhar Shafiq, Naved-ul-Hasan, and Ali Naqvi claimed one wicket each.

Requiring 155 to win the match, the Customs opened their second innings with Azhar Shafiq and Azam Khan. However, the National Bank bowlers struck early, with Shabbir Ahmed removing Azhar with the very first bowl. Azam made 16 before being adjudged lbw off the bowling of Zahid Saeed. After that Nasim Khan, the highest scorer for Customs in the first innings, and Aamer Bashir took the score to 51 without further casualities.

Requiring 104 more to win the match, the Customs' batsmen have quite a task ahead before claiming the ultimate honours. They will have to apply themselves to the task, and try to stay at the wicket, as any lose cricket on their parts can very easily their bowler's hard work.

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