KARACHI: Khalilullah and Nasir Khan emulated Adnan Younis by scoring centuries on Wednesday as Abbottabad reached 403 in their first innings against Karachi Blues in the Pool ‘A’ fixture of the Inter-region qualifying tournament for the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy at the National Stadium.

Khalilullah, who was batting on 80 in the team’s tally of 221-5 at stumps on Tuesday, followed Adnan (105) in getting to the three figures. He was finally dismissed for 138 with his 329-ball knock containing 12 boundaries and one six.

Nasir, in contrast, struck a rapid 113 off 141 with the aid of 15 fours and a brace of sixes.

Mirza Ahsan Jamil, the unorthodox left-arm spinner, claimed three more wickets on the second day to finish with fine figures of 6-100.

Karachi Blues, in reply, collected 138-3 with discarded international Rameez Raja still at the crease with a 125-ball 68 (eight fours) and Babar Hussain Agha partnering him on 32.

Fata were on the verge of sealing a comprehensive victory at the UBL Sports Complex where Faisalabad slumped to 60-7 in their second innings after having conceded an 84-run lead on the first.

Left-arm paceman Asif Afridi continued to torment the opposition batsmen by grabbing four wickets for 19 runs to follow his rich haul of 6-63 in the first innings.

Earlier, Fata extended their overnight score of 90-1 to 269 all out while replying to Faisalabad’s first-innings tally of 185. Mohammad Sarwar (65), Khushdil Shah (56) and Mohammad Naeem (52) were the chief run-getters.

Paceman Atlas Khan claimed five wickets for 63 runs.

Lahore Blues were in control of their Pool ‘B’ match against Bahawalpur at the NBP Sports Complex.

After earning a handy 92-run lead on the first innings by dismissing Bahawalpur for 166, Lahore Blues increased that advantage to 221 as they went to stumps at 129-6 in the second innings.

Sialkot were in sight of an innings triumph after forcing Multan to follow on in other Pool ‘B’ tie at the Niaz Stadium in Hyderabad.

After adding just four more runs to their overnight total of 331-8, it was the turn of Sialkot’s bowlers to make life tough for Multan.

Despite Usman Liaquat’s 63, Multan were sent packing for 169 with fast bowler Hasan Ali returning remarkable analysis of 7-30.

Batting again with a deficit of 166 runs, Multan made 53-1 by close of play.

In the qualifying event for departments, Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) were only four wickets away from handing Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) a humiliating defeat at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad.

Resuming at 142-4 in response to ZTBL’s pitiable first-innings total of 95, KRL posted 300 with Abdul Rehman Muzammil hitting up 131 (226 balls, 11 fours and two sixes) and Imam-ul-Haq 102 (182 balls, 11 fours and one six).

Beginning their second innings with a huge 205-run disadvantage, ZTBL were tottering at 90-6 with all wickets being taken, thus far, by paceman Mohammad Abbas (6-48). Abbas had already picked up five for 36 in the first innings.

PIA, who are in serious danger of missing first-class cricket for the first time in their long history, reached 228-6 in reply to Karachi Port Trust’s 287 at the LCCA Ground in Lahore. Shaharyar Ghani (75) and Fahad Iqbal (58) were the mainstays of PIA’s innings.

Earlier, Hazrat Shah finished with 5-88 after KPT began day two at 230-6.

SSGC were 206-8 after bowling out State Bank for 255 at the Multan Cricket Stadium.

Close of play scores on Wednesday (day two of four):

Inter-department qualifying tournament:

Second round:

At Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan: STATE BANK 255 in 102.4 overs (Usman Salahuddin 77, Faisal Mubashir 68, Sami Aslam 47; Tariq Haroon 4-31, Mohammad Amir 3-70, Akhtar Ayub 2-13); SSGC 206-8 in 67.3 overs (Awais Zia 61, Usman Tariq 46, Mohammad Irfan 32 not out, Tariq Haroon 20; Mohammad Bilawal 3-57, Kashif Bhatti 3-61, Muhammad Naveed 2-35).

At Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad: ZTBL 95 in 34.1 overs (Aaqib Shah 53, Yasir Hameed 29; Mohammad Abbas 5-36, Majid Ali 5-43) and 91-6 in 36 overs (Shahid Yousuf 41 not out; Mohammad Abbas 6-48); KRL 300 in 94.3 overs (Abdul Rehman Muzammil 131, Imam-ul-Haq 102, Shoaib Ahmed 20; Zahir Khan 4-62, Sajjad Hussain 4-96, Imran Khan 2-50).

At LCCA Ground, Lahore: KPT 287 in 110.2 overs (Faisal Khan 57, Nadeem Javed 48, Ahmed Iqbal 48, Anas Mahmood 42, Shah Ali Zafar 24; Hazrat Shah 5-88, Tahir Khan 2-79); PIA 228-6 in 66.4 overs (Shaharyar Ghani 75, Fahad Iqbal 58, Shahzar Muhammad 50, Tahir Khan 20 not out; Nabeel Malik 3-71, Adeel Malik 2-42).

Inter-region qualifying tournament:

Second round:

Pool ‘A’:

At National Stadium, Karachi: ABBOTTABAD 403 in 138.2 overs (Khalilullah 138, Nasir Khan 113, Adnan Younis 105; Mirza Ahsan Jamil 6-100, Zohaib Shera 2-73); KARACHI BLUES 132-3 in 38 overs (Rameez Raja 68 not out, Babar Hussain Agha 32 not out, Mohammad Waqas 24; Safiullah 2-23).

At UBL Sports Complex, Karachi: FAISALABAD 185 in 64.1 overs (Waqas Wasif 47, Atif Manzoor 46, Sheroze Raza 30, Ali Rafiq 26; Asif Afridi 6-63, Mohammad Irfan 2-53) and 60-7 in 30 overs (Asif Rafiq 20, Imran Ali 20; Asif Afridi 4-19, Haroon Sadaqat 3-10); FATA 269 in 91.3 overs (Mohammad Sarwar 65, Khushdil Shah 56, Mohammad Naeem 52; Atlas Khan 5-63, Sheroze Raza 3-42).

Pool ‘B’:

At NBP Sports Complex, Karachi: LAHORE BLUES 258 in 77.2 overs (Raza Ali Dar 105, Mohammad Ikhlaq 46, Farhan 39, Saad Nasim 26; Imranullah Aslam 5-76, Mohammad Imran 3-39, Kamran Hussain 2-37) and 129-6 in 36 overs (Raza Ali Dar 41 not out, Waqas Saleem 24, Agha Salman 23; Imranullah Aslam 3-31); BAHAWALPUR 166 in 63.3 overs (Kamran Hussain 43, Mohammad Imran 38, Bilawal Iqbal 3-32, Agha Salman 3-64, Haider Ali 2-18).

At Niaz Stadium, Hyderabad: SIALKOT 335 in 93.4 overs (Atiq-ur-Rehman 95, Ali Raza 91, Ahsan Bhatti 41, Mansoor Amjad 28, Salman Ali 26; Usman Mushtaq 4-73, Umair Arshad 4-94); MULTAN 169 in 59.5 overs (Usman Liaquat 63, Sufyan-ul-Haq 32, Mohammad Asim 31; Hasan Ali 7-30, Waqas Ahmed 2-47) and 53-1 in 14 overs (Mohammad Asim 22 not out, Zeeshan Ashraf 19 not out).

Published in Dawn October 1st, 2015

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