KARACHI: It took another dismal performance for Karachi Blues to lose first-class status after Peshawar crushed them by nine wickets inside three days on Monday to ensure plating in Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship next season.

Paceman Sajjad Hussain delivered the final nail in the Blues’ coffin as the 30-year-old returned career-best 7-54 to send the visitors reeling from 90-2 to 133 all out in their second innings at the Arbab Niaz Stadium in Peshawar.

Sajjad, born in Multan but playing as a guest player, completed the most memorable game of his life by taking a rich match bag of 13-121. Once the overnight pair of Jaahid Ali (38) and Saud Shakeel (33) was separated, Karachi Blues simply capitulated amidst reports of substandard umpiring from Mohammad Asif and Saqib Khan.

Left with a modest 131-run chase, Peshawar celebrated their first — and only — win of this championship to bag nine priceless points as opener Ashfaq Ahmed (50 off 69 balls, seven boundaries) and the left-handed Israrullah (51 off 64, seven fours and one six).

Karachi Blues’ fifth defeat in seven matches will definitely leave the KCCA hierarchy searching for the appropriate answers. But throughout the campaign, the dressing-room atmosphere of that region was far from cordial and that says it all. Grumblings over poor umpiring is one thing but never gelling as one unit was quite inexplicable.

Fata, meanwhile, stayed on course for a fairytale entry to the Super Eight round after clinching a sensational 16-run victory against Rawalpindi at the Pindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi.

Upcoming paceman Irfanullah Shah blew away the hosts for a measly 88 all out with best analysis of his first-class career by taking 7-29 in 18.3 overs in 18.3 overs to finish with magnificent match figures of 13-88.

Resuming their chase for 105 at a disastrous 17-4, Rawalpindi crumbled against the pace of the 21-year-old Bannu-born Irfanullah with just Sarmad Hameed (25) reaching double figures. The remaining wickets were taken by left-arm paceman Saad Altaf (3-49 in 19 overs) who bowled unchanged in tandem with Irfanullah.

Fata — who have 24 points after taking six from this win — would qualify from Pool ‘A’ ahead of Karachi Whites if the latter fail to defeat Lahore Whites outright in their ongoing day-night clash at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.

The hosts reached 146-1 after Faraz Ali hit 113 (157 balls, 15 fours) to enable Karachi Whites enjoy a first-innings lead of 264 by collecting 500-8 declared after overnight batsman Behram Khan fell without adding to his Sunday tally of 136.

Meanwhile, Islamabad did HBL a great favour by ending Lahore Blues’ Super Eight aspirations for the second successive season with a 58-run win at the Diamond Club Ground.

Lahore Blues were dismissed for 138 while chasing 197 with Pakistan paceman Hasan Ali grabbing six for 27 in the second innings, giving the 22-year-old best-ever match haul of 11-94.

Islamabad, who gained six points, owed their come-from-behind success to Faizan Riaz who contributed a wonderful undefeated 122 on Sunday.

HBL heaved a sigh of relief at the Islamabad result that have almost book them a Super Eight berth if they come out of the Multan Cricket Stadium fixture with a draw against Pool ‘A’ table-toppers Wapda.

At stumps on the penultimate evening, HBL were in some strife at 184-5 in reply to Wapda’s 361 despite Rameez Aziz (35) and Mohammad Waqas (34) adding 71 for the ongoing sixth-wicket partnership.

Umair Khan slammed an unbeaten 105 (175 balls, 15 boundaries) to help UBL progress to 185-1 after SSGC were all out for 291 in the rain-hit game at the Jinnah Stadium in Sialkot.

Earlier, left-arm seamer Mir Hamza picked up his fourth five-for in four outings for last season’s runners-up as the 24-year-old Pakistan prospect captured his best return of 7-54.

Champions SNGPL were closing in on a certain win as PIA nosedived to 188-9 after conceding a first-innings of 33 at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad.

NBP were struggling at 166-5 after hosts KRL posted 503-9 declared at the KRL Stadium in Rawalpindi.

Close of play scores and results on Monday (day three of four):

Seventh and final round:

Pool ‘A’

At Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan: WAPDA 361 in 120.4 overs (Mohammad Saad 118, Salman Butt 112, Aamir Sajjad 89; Fahim Ashraf 5-123, Usman Khan Shinwari 4-90); HBL 184-5 in 74 overs (Fakhar Zaman 58, Imran Farhat 36, Rameez Aziz 35 not out, Mohammad Waqas 34 not out; Zulfiqar Babar 3-68, Zahid Mansoor 2-34).

At Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot: SSGC 291 in 92.1 overs (Fawad Alam 108, Asif Zakir 99, Ali Asad 21; Mir Hamza 7-59, Sameen Gul 2-69); UBL 185-1 in 59 overs (Umair Khan 105 not out, Gulraiz Sadaf 39 not out, Shan Masood 26) — no play on Saturday due to rain.

At Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad: Islamabad beat Lahore Blues by 58 runs.

ISLAMABAD 134 in 31.1 overs (Faizan Riaz 33, Raheel Majeed 25; Waqas Ahmed 5-47, Bilawal Iqbal 5-54) and 227 in 49.1 overs (Faizan Riaz 122 not out, Abid Ali 20; Waqas Ahmed 5-96, Bilawal Iqbal 4-73) LAHORE BLUES 165 in 39 overs (Agha Salman 32, Raza Ali Dar 29, Bilawal Iqbal 24; Shehzad Azam Rana 5-63, Hasan Ali 5-67) and 138 in 45.3 overs (Tayyab Tahir 54, Zain-ul-Hasnain 22; Hasan Ali 6-27, Hamza Nadeem 2-44, Shehzad Azam Rana 2-56).

At Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar: Peshawar beat Karachi Blues by nine wickets.

KARACHI BLUES 181 in 49 overs (Adeel Malik 54, Rao Waqar 53, Owais Ahmed Rehmani 28; Sajjad Hussain 5-67, Sajid Khan 2-22, Israrullah 2-26) and 133 in 45.2 overs (Jaahid Ali 38, Saud Shakeel 33; Sajjad Hussain 7-54, Nasir Ahmed 3-45); PESHAWAR 184 in 61 overs (Sahibzada Farhan 69, Akbar Badshah 25, Israrullah 23; Abdul Ameer 5-47, Adeel Malik 3-72) and 131-1 in 27.1 overs (Israrullah 51 not out, Ashfaq Ahmed 50 not out, Sahibzada Farhan 24).

Pool ‘B’

At Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad: PIA 280 in 771. overs (Shahzar Mohammad 71, Shoaib Khan 49, Aizaz Cheema 37, Agha Sabir 34, Obaidullah 32; Bilawal Bhatti 4-82, Ahmed Safi 3-47, Azizullah 2-49) and 188-9 in 41.3 overs (Agha Sabir 83, Shoaib Khan 50, Najaf Shah 28 not out; Azizullah 4-50, Mohammad Imran 4-61); SNGPL 313 in 97.2 overs (Hussain Talat 82, Mohammad Imran 66, Abubakar Khan 58, Imran Butt 24, Ahmed Safi 20; Aizaz Cheema 3-82, Tahir Khan 2-38, Najaf Shah 2-60, Hazrat Shah 2-77).

At Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore (day-night fixture): Lahore Whites 236 in 66.1 overs (Farhan Khan 72, Anas Mahmood 62, Ali Azmat 32, Asif Raza 21; Abdullah Muqaddam 4-79, Azam Hussain 2-25, Faraz Ali 2-33, Ghulam Mudassar 2-77) and 146-1 in 48 overs (Anas Mahmood 71, Wahab Dar 57 not out); Karachi Whites 500-8 declared in 132.3 overs (Behram Khan 136, Faraz Ali 113, Hamza Ghanchi 99, Saad Ali 68, Mohammad Hasan 24, Azam Hussain 23 not out, Mohammad Asad 21; Ali Azmat 3-90, Umaid Asif 2-134).

At Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi: Fata beat Rawalpindi by 16 runs.

FATA 120 in 32.4 overs (Mohammad Naeem 52; Nazar Hussain 3-18, Haseeb Azam 3-29, Ataullah 3-30) and 136 in 41.4 overs (Nisar Ahmed 41, Asif Afridi 39; Nazar Hussain 5-44, Abid Hasan 3-41); RAWALPINDI 152 in 46.5 overs (Haseeb Azam 42, Taimur Khan 22, Yasir Hameed 21; Irfanullah Shah 6-59, Saad Altaf 2-77) and 88 in 37.3 overs (Sarmad Hameed 25; Irfanullah Shah 7-29, Saad Altaf 3-49).

At KRL Stadium, Rawalpindi: KRL 503-9 declared in 146 overs (Abdul Rehman Muzammil 170, Saeed Anwar Jr 108, Nauman Ali 50, Zulfiqar Jan 30, Adnan Mahmood 29, Haris Arif 25 not out, Nawaz Ahmed 24; Kamran Ghulam 3-78, Ali Manzoor 3-101, Atif Jabbar 2-90); NBP 166-5 in 73 overs (Usman Salahuddin 75 not out, Faizan Khan 23, Faisal bin Mubashir 21, Kamran Ghulam 20 not out).

Published in Dawn November 15th, 2016