KARACHI: The Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) were upgraded to the top of Pakistan domestic cricket on Wednesday when they qualified to play at first-class level for the first time in their history by securing an 81-run victory over Karachi Blues.

In the final round of matches of the inter-region qualifying tournament, Fata only required a draw to make the cut from pool ‘A’ but they doubled their celebration by cantering to a third straight triumph that earned them nine points, 27 points overall.

On the penultimate day of the four-day game at the UBL Sports Complex, Fata were dismissed for 107 in their second innings after starting at 79-6. Paceman Waqar Anwar claimed 5-34.

Chasing 336, Karachi Blues then folded up for 255 with young Saud Shakeel scoring 56.

Speedster Mohammad Sarwar followed up his 6-47 in the first innings by taking 3-27, giving him match haul of 9-74.

The result means Karachi will be represented by their Whites strings in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy this season.

Faisalabad, losers in the previous two matches, scored a facile nine-wicket success against Abbottabad in the other pool ‘A’ tie at the NBP Sports Complex.

Lahore are almost certain to have two teams competing in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy after their Blues outfit staged a brilliant fightback against Sialkot in the Pool ‘B’ fixture at the National Stadium in Karachi.

Replying to Sialkot’s first-innings total of 359, Lahore Blues were in deep trouble at 164-5 at stumps on Tuesday. But a tremendous rearguard action from the lower-order batting lifted them to 360 with Fahad-ul-Haq (88 off 212 balls, 11 boundaries), Farhan Khan (74 off 129 balls, 13 fours) and Bilawal Iqbal (51 not out off 161 balls, five fours) playing key roles in their resurgence.

Buoyed by the spirited fightback, Lahore Blues then had Sialkot in heaps of trouble in the second innings at 48-8 when stumps were pulled out for the day.

Bahawalpur, meanwhile, grabbed a consolation nine-wicket win against Multan in their pool ‘B’ encounter at the Niaz Stadium in Hyderabad.

Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC), who lead the standings in the qualifying competition for departments, were in sight of a third consecutive victory after reducing Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) to 93-5 in pursuit of a 293 at the Multan Cricket Stadium in Multan.

SSGC added 63 runs to their second-innings tally of 123-3 to be dismissed for 186 with spinner Nauman Ali claiming 5-22.

Pakistan left-arm paceman Mohammad Amir continued his wicket-taking form by claiming three of the five wickets in KRL’s second innings. He took 6-32 in the first innings.

State Bank also stayed in the hunt to figure in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy by closing in on a clinical defeat of Karachi Port Trust (KPT) at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad.

KPT, who conceded a huge 334 lead to the bankers, were 179-4 in their second innings and still require 155 to make State Bank bat again.

Earlier, Kamran Ghulam just failed to become the third batsman in State Bank’s innings to reach three figures after Saad Ali (144) and Israrullah (130). The all-rounder, who played for Pakistan U-19, was dismissed for 99 (124 balls, eight fours and one six).

Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) need just two wickets to hand PIA a crushing defeat at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.

When play ended for the PIA had nosedived to 168-8 after falling behind by 287 runs on the first innings.

Aamir Shah, earlier, emulated Zohaib Khan (121) and Rameez Alam (122) by hitting up an unbeaten 103 off 147 balls with 14 boundaries as ZTBL declared their innings at 455-6.

Close of play scores and results on Wednesday (day three of four):

Inter-department qualifying tournament:

Third round:

At Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan: SSGC 243 in 82 overs (Tariq Haroon 87, Mohammad Amir 69 not out; Mohammad Abbas 4-52, Majid Ali 2-43, Sadaf Hussain 2-48) and 186 in 70.5 overs (Usman Tariq 47, Muzammil Nizam 46, Asif Zakir 30; Nauman Ali 5-22, Mohammad Abbas 3-60, Majid Ali 2-55); KRL 137 in 43 overs (Saeed Anwar Jr 50, Nauman Ali 30, Usman Arshad 28; Mohammad Amir 6-32, Mohammad Irfan 2-22) and 93-5 in 45 overs (Abdul Rehman 27 not out, Nawaz Ahmed 27; Mohammad Amir 3-26).

At Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad: KPT 163 in 71 overs (Ahmed Iqbal 60 not out, Taimur Ali 30; Kamran Ghulam 3-24, Nazar Hussain 3-38, Mohammad Naveed 2-33) and 179-4 in 77 overs (Taimur Ali 67 not out, Ahmed Iqbal 36 not out, Faisal Khan 33; Nazar Hussain 2-41); STATE BANK 497 in 116.3 overs (Saad Ali 144, Israrullah 130, Kamran Ghulam 99, Mukhtar Ahmed 28, Abid Ali 25; Babar Rehman 4-89, Khalid Mahmood 2-78).

At Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore: PIA 168 in 60.2 overs (Fahad Iqbal 56, Aizaz Cheema 37; Sohail Tanvir 4-20, Zohaib Khan 3-26) and 168-8 in 63 overs (Shahzar Mohammad 54, Shayan Jahangir 25, Mohammad Umar 21; Aaqib Shah 6-74); ZTBL 455-6 declared in 140 overs (Rameez Alam 122, Zohaib Khan 121, Aaqib Shah 103 not out, Sohail Tanvir 30, Ahmed Rasheed 26; Aqeel Arshad 3-72, Hazrat Shah 2-92).

Inter-regional qualifying tournament:

Pool ‘A’:

At UBL Sports Complex, Karachi: Fata beat Karachi Blues by 81 runs.

FATA 376 in 99.4 overs (Asif Afridi 108, Rehan Afridi 78, Fawad Khan 61, Khushdil Shah 30; Salman Zaib 3-53, Mirza Ahsan Jamil 3-92, Zohaib Shera 2-70) and 107 in 35 overs (Waqar Anwar 5-34, Zohaib Shera 4-41); KARACHI BLUES 147 in 48.3 overs (Babar Hussain Agha 38, Saud Shakeel 37; Mohammad Sarwar 6-47, Atif Afridi 3-23) and 255 in 75.2 overs (Saud Shakeel 56, Babar Hussain Agha 46, Mirza Ahsan Jamil 32, Faraz Ahmed Khan 29, Rameez Raja 27; Mohammad Sarwar 3-27, Asif Afridi 3-71, Raheem Baz 2-45).

At NBP Sports Complex, Karachi: Faisalabad beat Abbottabad by nine wickets.

ABBOTTABAD 156 in 55.2 overs (Rameez Ahmed 50, Adnan Younis 48, Ikramullah 22 not out; Atif Manzoor 5-57, Ali Rafiq 2-21, Shahabul Khan 2-56) and 117 in 50.3 overs (Khalilullah 38; Atlas Khan 5-48, Shahabul Khan 3-39, Atif Manzoor 2-15); FAISALABAD 254 in 98.4 overs (Ali Rafiq 82, Hasan Mahmood 67, Asif Ali 42, Waqas Asif 23; Fawad Malook 5-27, Fazle Rabbi 2-38, Ikramullah 2-38) and 21-1 in 2 overs.

Pool ‘B’:

At National Stadium, Karachi: SIALKOT 359 in 108.5 overs (Faisal Rasheed 105 not out, Mansoor Amjad 89, Hasan Ali 51, Atiq-ur-Rehman 30, Ahsan Bhatti 21; Aftab Azhar 3-54, Saad Nasim 3-74, Bilawal Iqbal 2-70) and 48-8 in 13.5 overs (Raza Ali Dar 3-3, Aftab Azhar 3-12, Bilawal Iqbal 2-27); LAHORE BLUES 360 in 71 overs (Fahad-ul-Haq 88, Farhan Khan 74, Bilawal Iqbal 51 not out, Agha Salman 36, Saad Nasim 35, Waqas Saleem 31; Hasan Ali 5-132, Faisal Rasheed 2-49).

At Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad: Bahawalpur beat Multan by nine wickets.

MULTAN 147 in 62.1 overs (Mohammad Asim 48, Aftab Niazi 30, Naveed Alam 23; Kamran Hussain 4-32, Imranullah Aslam 3-20, Zahir Siddiqui 2-52) and 194 in 68.1 overs (Hafiz Ilyas 79, Mohammad Asim 41; Kamran Hussain 4-38, Imranullah Aslam 4-62, Zahir Siddiqui 2-57); BAHAWALPUR 195 in 60.4 overs (Kamran Hussain 52, Adeel Basit 37, Zahid Siddiqui 23 not out, Kamran Ata 24; Mohammad Irfan 4-40, Usman Mushtaq 3-45, Umair Arshad 2-62) and 147-1 in 39-2 overs (Shahan Akram 64 not out, Jawwad Hussain 51, Aamir Ijaz 25 not out).

Published in Dawn, October 8th , 2015

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