Karachi Whites face moment of truth

KARACHI: Even though winter has already started in the northern regions, stand-in Karachi Whites head coach Azam Khan must be sweating profusely as his team prepares to take on traditional rivals Lahore Whites in the penultimate round of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship.

The fixture starting at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore from Monday will give former Test batsman Azam a lot of headache as he takes over the coaching role from ex-Pakistan spinner Tauseef Ahmed — who will shortly leave for Dubai as the Pakistan ‘A’ coach for the five-match T20 series against England Lions — as the currently sixth-placed Karachi Whites make a last-ditch attempt to qualify for the Super Eight stage.

Karachi Whites, who lost to Rawalpindi in the fifth-round game they should have won, will be further depleted by absence of regular skipper Faisal Iqbal, the discarded Test batsman who has been surprisingly granted permission by the PCB to appear in an US Open T20 tournament in Florida.

Wicket-keeper Mohammad Hasan will take the reins from Faisal for the Lahore Whites game as well as seventh and last round clash against Fata in Karachi.

With National Bank of Pakistan (NBP), United Bank Limited (UBL) and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) already qualifying for the Super Eight round, the race for the remaining five places is very much on.

Habib Bank Limited (HBL), who are second in Pool ‘B’, thus brace themselves for a tricky visit to leaders NBP at the Jinnah Stadium in Sialkot. Out-of-favour Pakistan seamer Umar Gul has hit the straps at the right time with 16 victims in the wins over Lahore Whites and KRL. And another bucketful of wickets this week from the 31-year-old will definitely boost HBL’s hopes.

UBL will be hoping to mark skipper Younis Khan’s 38th birthday, which the legendary Pakistan batsman celebrated on Sunday, with a victory against troubled Port Qasim Authority (PQA) at Islamabad’s Marghazar Cricket Ground where the Pool ‘A’ leaders were held to a draw by Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) last week on a pitch that generally favoured batsmen.

If UBL are unable to clinch an outright result in their favour then SNGPL could topple them at the top if they succeed in defeating SSGC at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad where last week they trounced PQA by innings in less than three days.

Wapda and KRL face each other in a mid-table tussle at the National Ground in Islamabad. KRL hope to have Test paceman Rahat Ali to partner Mohammad Abbas, who is the leading wicket-taker in the championship with 34 so far.

Sixth-round schedule (Nov 30-Dec 3):

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

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

Current standings

(Tabulated under played, won, lost, drawn, points):

Pool ‘A’

United Bank 5 3 0 2 32

SNGPL 5 2 0 3 28

SSGC 5 1 0 4 15

Peshawar 5 0 0 5 10

Port Qasim 5 1 1 3 10

Islamabad 5 1 1 3 7

Lahore Blues 5 0 2 3 3

Hyderabad 5 0 4 1 3

Pool ‘B’