KARACHI: There was no shortage of drama in the sixth-round Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship match at the UBL Sports Complex on Sunday as 19 wickets fell while Tabish Khan and Mohammad Naeem stood out for the rival outfits.

Fata falling 78 behind on the first innings didn’t last long as Karachi Whites then capitulated inside 28 overs for 134 to set up a tantalising finale to what has been a seesaw battle. The pitch, although lively from ball one on Saturday, actually neither held any terror nor it was a minefield.

The reason of batsmen struggling was simple — lack of application to bat on such a pitch. Naeem was one exception as the left-hander raised a second first-class century of his career after surviving a chance every early in the innings.

That dropped cost Karachi dearly after Fata were in the mire at 66-5 with the inspired Tabish responsible for five dismissals. The fast bowler, who has bagged six five-for this season, couldn’t have picked a more opportune moment to stake his claims yet again for the national honours since national selector Tauseef Ahmed was on hand to witness him take 7-56 in 17 overs of sustained bowling.

Naeem was ninth out after making 105 off 155 balls with the aid of 17 boundaries during a stay of 214 minutes. He was caught behind by Mohammad Hasan off occasional seamer Faraz Ali.

Other than the opener, all-rounder Moham­mad Irfan (24 off 58 balls, three fours) played a crucial innings as he helped Naeem resurrect Fata with a sixth-wicket partnership of 86.

Boosted by Naeem’s heroics, Fata then bowled with purpose to bowl out Karachi Whites for 134 with just Faraz (29), Saad Ali (30) and Mohammad Hasan (33) contributing. KCCA president Prof Ejaz Ahmed Faruqi arrived just in time to see his team lose final couple of wickets.

Chasing 214, Fata reached 4-0 in 2 overs to set up a fascinating day of cricket on Monday’s third day.

Lahore Blues secured a 109-run lead by collecting 262 in reply to Karachi Blues’ 153 at the National Stadium amidst complaints of substandard umpiring.

Fahad-ul-Haq engineered Lahore’s recovery from 118-5 on Saturday by contributing 75. Adeel Malik, who top-scored for the home team, starred in his usual role of a paceman by claiming 5-49.

Khurram Manzoor, the stand-in captain, then led from the front as Karachi Blues wiped out the deficit when they reached 139-3. The Pakistan discard hit 58 as he and Fazal Subhan (55) added 98 for the second wicket.

Rawalpindi were 171-7 after paceman Abid Hasan took the last two wickets to help his region dismiss Lahore Whites for 190 at the LCCA Ground in Lahore. Abid finished with 5-53 in 23.2 overs.

Pool ‘A’ leaders Wapda greatly felt the absence of several first-choice stars as they limped to 101-5 after Asif Zakir’s undefeated 200 (380 balls, 23 fours and two sixes) lifted SSGC to a commanding 529-8 declared at the Jinnah Stadium in Sialkot.

NBP were also in big trouble when SNGPL reduced the bankers to 112-6 after the champions were all out for 262 at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad.

PIA were on verge of their fifth defeat in the championship after KRL built a commanding first-innings lead of 218 at the Sports Stadium in Sargodha.

Off-spinner Tahir Khan was solitary shining light for the national carrier as he grabbed eight wickets for 102 runs from 26.2 overs.

But his efforts proved futile as Pool ‘B’ leaders quickly got rid of openers Kamran Sajid and Agha Sabir to have reeling at 25-2 in the second innings.

UBL, who finished runners-up to SNGPL last season, obtained a handy lead of 122 by closing at 261-6 while responding to HBL’s measly total of 139 at the Multan Cricket Stadium in Multan.

In the day-night fixture at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, Peshawar rode on Sajid Khan’s maiden first-class century to post 472 against Islamabad after resuming their overnight first innings at 357-7.

The right-handed Sajid, in his third appearance, scored 105 from 173 balls with the help of 12 fours to enable Peshawar seize control. Taj Wali (26) greatly assisted Sajid in a ninth-wicket stand of 101 runs in 111 minutes.

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

Sixth round:

Pool ‘A’:

At National Stadium, Karachi: KARACHI BLUES 153 in 36.4 overs (Adeel Malik 66, Khurram Shehzad 36; Bilawal Iqbal 4-48, Saad Nasim 2-18, Shahid Nawaz 2-25, Waqas Ahmed 2-58) and 139-3 in 31 overs (Khurram Manzoor 58, Fazal Subhan 55); LAHORE BLUES 262 in 95.1 overs (Fahad-ul-Haq 75, Bilawal Iqbal 33, Waqas Saleem 32, Zain-ul-Hasnain 32, Agha Salman 27, Raza Ali Dar 21; Adeel Malik 5-49, Basit Ali 3-57, Mohammad Waqas Sr 2-25).

At Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore (day-night fixture): PESHAWAR 472 in 142 overs (Israrullah 107, Sajid Khan 105, Ashfaq Ahmed 57, Gohar Ali 48, Mehran Ibrahim 46, Taj Wali 26, Akbar Badshah 22; Hasan Ali 4-121, Raheel Majeed 2-60); ISLAMABAD 184-4 in 51 overs (Ali Sarfraz 41, Raheel Majeed 33, Faizan Riaz 32 not out, Sarmad Bhatti 26 not out; Sajid Khan 2-51).

At Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan: HBL 139 in 50.2 overs (Fahim Ashraf 29, Ammad Butt 26, Fakhar Zaman 20; Sameen Gul 8-44); UBL 261-6 in 77.1 overs (Shan Masood 106, Sohaib Maqsood 42, Hammad Azam 42 not out, Umar Siddique 25, Yasim Murtaza 25 not out; Fahim Ashraf 2-55, Zohaib Khan 2-58).

At Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot: SSGC 529-8 declared in 125 overs (Asif Zakir 200 not out, Fawad Alam 92, Yasir Arafat 62, Saifullah Khan Bangash 54, Awais Zia 44; Mansoor Amjad 3-46); WAPDA 101-5 in 34 overs (Zahid Mansoor 50 not out; Ahmed Jamal 3-22, Tariq Haroon 2-41).

Pool ‘B’:

At UBL Sports Complex, Karachi: KARACHI WHITES 257 in 80.1 overs (Saad Ali 58, Hamza Ghanchi 47, Mohammad Asad 37, Babar Rehman 23; Saad Altaf 4-63, Irfanullah Shah 3-84) and 134 in 27.5 overs (Mohammad Hasan 33, Saad Ali 30, Faraz Ali 29; Mohammad Zeeshan Khan 4-19, Saad Altaf 4-59, Irfanullah Shah 2-48); FATA 179 in 51 overs (Mohammad Naeem 105, Mohammad Irfan 24; Tabish Khan 7-56, Azam Hussain 2-27) and 4-0 in 2 overs.

At Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad: SNGPL 262 in 76.5 overs (Taufiq Umar 69, Khurram Shehzad 63, Mohammad Hafeez 42, Imran Butt 22, Adil Akram 20 not out; Afaq Ahmed 4-86, Atif Jabbar 3-72, Qaiser Abbas 2-6); NBP 112-6 in 37 overs (Usman Salahuddin 40, Naved Yasin 22; Hussain Talat 2-24, Manzoor Khan 2-30).

At Sports Stadium, Sargodha: PIA 121 in 43.5 overs (Fahad Iqbal 62 not out, Shoaib Khan 26; Ahmed Bashir 4-32, Sadaf Hussain 3-32, Mohammad Abbas 2-25) and 25-2 in 10 overs; KRL 339 in 95.2 overs (Nauman Ali 61, Saeed Anwar Jr 57, Abdul Rehman Muzammil 56, Junaid Ali 44, Sardar Hasan Raza 29; Tahir Khan 8-102).

At LCCA Ground, Lahore: LAHORE WHITES 190 in 85.2 overs (Asif Raza 46, Anas Mahmood 36, Qaiser Ashraf 30, Gohar Hafeez 27, Adnan Rasool 24; Abid Hasan 5-53, Nazar Hussain 2-39, Ataullah 2-47); RAWALPINDI 171-7 in 61 overs (Kashif Bhatti 40 not out, Yasir Hameed 38, Zeeshan Malik 36, Nazar Hussain 23 not out; Asif Raza 4-33, Qaiser Ashraf 2-31).

Published in Dawn, November 7th, 2016