KARACHI: Karachi Whites’ hopes of defending their PCB Inter-region Under-19 (Three-day) cricket title receded on Monday when Faisalabad upstaged the holders by four wickets in the second triangular fixture to enter the final in Mirpur.

Chasing 138 on the third and final day at the Mirpur Cricket Stadium, Faisalabad lost six wickets in reaching the target.

Resuming at 147-3, Karachi Whites suffered an inexplicable collapse with the remaining seven wickets going down for just 36 runs. Overnight pair of skipper Hasan Mohsin and Ammad Alam both perished after scoring 51 apiece.

Paceman Asif Raza was the wrecker-in-chief for Faisalabad with five wickets for 48 runs. Slow left-armer Qamar Abbas bagged his second four-for in the game as he claimed 4-62 to end up with match figures of 8-89.

In their, Faisalabad, who held Rawalpindi to a draw in the opening match, were steered home by Mohammad Saleem (58 not out) and captain Shahid Khan (49) who together put on 84 for the third wicket.

Karachi Whites now to defeat Rawalpindi, who they play from Wednesday, outright to qualify for next week’s four-day final.

Scores and result on Monday (final day of three):

Faisalabad beat Karachi Whites by four wickets.

KARACHI WHITES 209 in 54.3 in overs (Ram Ravi 64, Mohammad Zubair 32, Hasan Mohsin 24, Umair Yousuf 22; Qamar Abbas 4-27, Asad Raza 3-56, Mohammad Ibtesam 3-60) and  200 in 61.2 overs (Ammad Alam 51, Hasan Mohsin 51, Ram Ravi 32, Umair Yousuf 30; Asad Raza 5-48, Qamar Abbas 4-62); FAISALABAD 272-8 in 83 overs (Shahid Khan 78, Ali Raza 53, Mohammad Saleem 48, Mujtaba Hasan 42, Abdul Samad 25; Hasan Mohsin 2-15, Amman Alam 2-41, Mohammad Hassaan Khan 2-78) and 138-6 in 63.4 overs (Mohammad Saleem 58 not out, Shahid Khan 49; Hasan Mohsin 2-19).

Published in Dawn October 25th, 2016