KARACHI: After being denied a certain victory against Fata last week courtesy of poor weather, National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) will hope the luck will side with them at the National Stadium when they take on Karachi Whites in the latest round of matches in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship.

Holding a four-point lead at the top of Pool ‘B’, NBP face a Karachi Whites side which has gained significantly in the two matches they have played thus far, taking three points against Wapda and Habib Bank Limited (HBL) on contrasting pitches.

After the dull opening game against Wapda, the pitch for the HBL clash offered life to such an extent that once Karachi Whites had won the toss, HBL were thrown to the deep end and never had the chance to regain momentum as the match progressed.

Last Monday’s day-one play promised a lot for the remaining three days. But what transpired thereafter was inevitable as the pitch not just became kind to the batsmen but the poor quality of balls being used in the championship also contributed to the spate of draws in the first two rounds.

The Grays brand balls in use have a tendency of softening up markedly within 30 overs. Some players have already expressed their dissatisfaction to the match officials. During last week’s match, several times the ball in use at the time was changed by umpires after a few overs because the stitching had come off at some places.

NBP captain Kamran Akmal is heading to the game with back-to-back centuries against Lahore Whites and Fata, respectively. The discarded Pakistan wicket-keeper/batsman will aim for his 25th first-class hundred this week in what will be last appearance for some time because he will be soon heading off for the Bangladesh Premier League along with team-mate Nasir Jamshed, Saeed Ajmal and SSGC’s Mohammad Amir to name a few.

Meanwhile, Karachi Whites were dealt a severe blow on Sunday with the news that their appointed skipper Faisal Iqbal has been automatically suspended for the NBP encounter because of slow over-rate maintained by his team during the HBL game. With Anwar Ali, the nominated vice-captain, currently away on national duty in the UAE, the mantle of leadership will probably be taken up by wicket-keeper Mohammad Hasan.

The Karachi Whites players, in the meantime, attended an anti-corruption lecture on Sunday which was delivered by former Pakistan captain Salman Butt, who was the chief conspirator of the spot-fixing saga during the 2010 Lord’s Test against England.

Third-round schedule (Nov 9-12):

Pool ‘A’: Hyderabad vs Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad); Lahore Blues vs United Bank Limited (Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore); Islamabad vs Port Qasim Authority (Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad); Peshawar vs Sui Southern Gas Company (Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar).

Pool ‘B’: Karachi Whites vs National Bank of Pakistan (National Stadium, Karachi); Lahore Whites vs Wapda (LCCA Ground, Lahore); Federally Administered Tribal Areas vs Khan Research Laboratories (Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot); Rawalpindi vs Habib Bank Limited (Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi).

Published in Dawn, November 9th, 2015

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