KARACHI: Babar Azam couldn’t have wished for a more appropriate opportunity to slam his maiden first-class century on Friday as State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) made a grand recovery in the Silver League final of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship.

After the experienced Habib Bank Limited (HBL) had dictated terms on the first two days, it was the turn of young SBP batsmen to take the centre stage at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad.

HBL had all but wrapped the game when play began on day three. Inspired brilliantly by Babar’s resolute innings of 150 not out, SBP advanced from the overnight 6-1 to 251-3 in their second innings to force the title-decider, at least, to Saturday’s fourth day.

The pitch, which had become the talking point, didn’t misbehave as it was feared. And despite a number of close shaves, Babar and his partners managed to keep a depleted HBL bowling attack at bay with just two wickets falling in 89.4 overs of action.

Babar, who made headlines with a hundred for Pakistan ‘A’ against Australia in Sharjah nearly two months ago, played the sheet-anchor role to perfection while also exhibiting a wide range of delightful strokes. A sumptuous off-drive off paceman Sarmad Anwar that carried him from 87 to 91 was the shot of the day.

Since making his first-class debut at the tender age of 16 in December 2010, Babar had only six half-centuries in 19 matches. But on Friday he not only bettered his previous highest score of 92, but also provided a fair glimpse of being a big match player since the final is televised live.

Babar and his former Pakistan Under-19 team-mate Zafar Gohar did well to deny the breakthrough HBL were searching for almost 95 minutes during the extended three-hour first session of play.

The left-hander Zafar, who was sent in as the night-watchman on Thursday but didn’t face a single ball when play was called off for bad light, scored 26 in the second-wicket stand of 64 before edging seamer Kamran Hussain to Humayun Farhat.

Mukhtar Ahmed, held back from his normal opening slot, also made 26 when he was bowled by Abdur Rehman to end a partnership of 61 with the well-set Babar.

Usman Salahuddin — who became the leading run-getter in the competition on Friday — then arrived to partner Babar when SBP still required 63 to avoid an innings defeat. But gradually both right-handers grew in stature.

Missing burly paceman Fahad Masood through a hamstring injury sustained while batting on the second day only served to create frustration in the HBL camp. Rehman had unflattering figures of 2-100 in 37 overs while his spinning partner Aslam Qureshi is still wicketless despite bowling 33 overs.

Several times during the day the fielders exchanged words with the umpires when their appeals were not answered in the affirmative.

Undeterred by such unruly behaviour, Babar simply got better and better after having resumed the day on nought. By stumps, the 20-year-old cousin of the Akmal brothers had battled through 294 balls to strike 20 boundaries and one effortless six off Rehman over long-on.

Usman is batting on 33 (122 balls, three fours) while playing second fiddle to Babar in the unbroken partnership of 120.

However, HBL still are on top with two days still to go since SBP have a lead of just 57 runs at the moment.

Scoreboard

STATE BANK (1st Innings) 162 (Aamir Yamin 54, Zafar Gohar 31, Naved Yasin 21; Abdur Rehman 4-35, Aslam Qureshi 3-22, Aftab Khan 2-28).

HABIB BANK (1st Innings) 356 (Kamran Hussain 76, Humayun Farhat 61, Hasan Raza 45, Aftab Khan 43, Rameez Aziz 28, Fahad Masood 28; Kashif Bhatti 5-113, Zafar Gohar 3-125, Rizwan Haider 2-41).

STATE BANK (2nd Innings, overnight 6-1):

Babar Azam not out150

Aamir Yamin c Humayun b Rehman6

Zafar Gohar c Humayun b Kamran26

Mukhtar Ahmed b Rehman 26

Usman Salahuddin not out 33

EXTRAS (B-4, NB-6) 10

TOTAL (for three wkt, 96 overs) 251

FALL OF WKTS: 1-6, 2-70, 3-131.

BOWLING (to-date): Sarmad Anwar 7-2-35-0 (5nb); Abdur Rehman 37-5-100-2 (1nb); Aslam Qureshi 33-6-77-0; Aftab Khan 9-0-20-0; Rameez Aziz 1-0-2-0; Kamran Hussain 8-6-6-1; Imran Farhat 1-0-8-0.

Published in Dawn December 6th , 2014