KARACHI: Just a day after enduring the pain of Karachi Blues being relegated out of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship, country’s most populated city was smiling on Wednesday as Karachi Whites qualified as the solitary region to the Super Eight phase.

The junior side kept alive Karachi’s representation in the premier first-class competition after spinners Raza-ul-Hasan and Azam Hussain played pivotal part in the Whites’ well-earned eight-wicket victory over arch-rivals Lahore Whites.

The day-night game at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore came to an end in the final session 40 minutes after the dinner break with the left-handed duo of Saad Ali (23) and Faraz Ali (21) making short work of a 54-run chase after seamer Umaid Asif got rid of both openers in a hostile, short burst.

Karachi Whites’ third victory enabled them to finish fourth in Pool ‘B’ with 27 points — three more than Fata the other region which remained in the frame until Wednesday — and set up a Super Eight clash against SSGC at the UBL Sports Complex in Karachi from Saturday.

Resuming at 146-1 on the fourth and final day of the preliminary-round match, Lahore Whites were dismissed for 317 in the second innings with opener Wahab Dar contributing 80, Ali Azmat 56 and all-rounder Asif Raza 52 to go with Anas Mahmood’s 71 on Monday.

Off-spinner Raza bagged four wickets for 73 runs in 32 overs, while the experienced slow left-armer Azam took 4-103 in 29.4 overs.

Reigning champions SNGPL were the day’s other winners with PIA, predictably being their hapless opponents, crashing to a sixth defeat in seven outings.

SNGPL emerged victorious at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad by six wickets on the back of an unfinished partnership of 74 between Test batsman Iftikhar (65) and Abubakar Khan (41) to reclaim second spot in the final Pool ‘B’ standings with 36 points.

Meanwhile, Pakistan discard Sohaib Maqsood chose Sialkot’s Jinnah Stadium to send the SSGC side ducking for safety with a buccaneering 222. The tall right-hander, who bettered his previous highest first-class score of 182, by hammering 25 boundaries and six sixes during his 212-ball innings as UBL amassed 551-3 in reply to SSGC’s 291.

After opener Umair Khan retired hurt for 109 with a knee injury, having resumed at his overnight tally of 105, Sohaib and Akbar-ur-Rehman added 325 for the unbroken fourth-wicket. Akbar ended up making 110 off 178 deliveries with 11 fours.

Rameez Aziz (79) and wicket-keeper Mohammad Waqas (63) rescued HBL from total capitulation with a sixth-wicket partnership of 144 to help their side post 269 in reply to Pool ‘A’ table-toppers Wapda’s 361 at the Multan Cricket Stadium.

Test slow left-armer Zulfiqar Babar was the standout performer for Wapda with figures of 6-94 in 39.2 overs.

Pool ‘B’ leaders KRL warmed up for the Super Eight round by opting for batting practice rather than force a win against NBP at the KRL Stadium in Rawalpindi.

After bowling out for the bankers for 228, KRL, who had totalled 5-3 in the first innings, opted to bat again to reach 197-4 with Shoaib Ahmed Minhas hitting up an undefeated 116 (off 150 balls, 18 fours).

Earlier, Usman Salahuddin completed a fighting century as the right-hander compiled an unbeaten 108.

Paceman Mohammad Abbas returned figures of 5-30 to become the first bowler this season to cross the 50-wicket landmark, a notable feat he also achieved last season.

Scores and results on Tuesday (final day of four):

Seventh and final round:

Pool ‘A’

At Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan: Match drawn.

WAPDA 361 in 120.4 overs (Mohammad Saad 118, Salman Butt 112, Aamir Sajjad 89; Fahim Ashraf 5-123, Usman Khan Shinwari 4-90) and 90-1 in 33 overs (Adnan Raees 57 not out, Ayaz Tasawwar 24 not out); HBL 269 in 114 overs (Rameez Aziz 79, Mohammad Waqas 63, Fakhar Zaman 58, Imran Farhat 36; Zulfiqar Babar 6-94, Zahid Mansoor 3-63).

At Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot: Match drawn.

SSGC 291 in 92.1 overs (Fawad Alam 108, Asif Zakir 99, Ali Asad 21; Mir Hamza 7-59, Sameen Gul 2-69); UBL 551-3 in 130 overs (Sohaib Maqsood 222 not out, Akbar-ur-Rehman 110 not out, Umair Khan 109 retired hurt, Gulraiz Sadaf 49, Shan Masood 26) — no play on Saturday due to rain.

Pool ‘B’

At Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad: SNGPL beat PIA by six wickets.

PIA 280 in 77.1 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 189 in 42 overs (Agha Sabir 83, Shoaib Khan 50, Najaf Shah 29 not out; Mohammad Imran 5-62, Azizullah 4-50); 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) and 160-4 in 34.4 overs (Iftikhar Ahmed 65 not out, Abubakar Khan 41 not out, Hussain Talat 24; Hazrat Shah 2-29).

At Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore (day-night fixture): Karachi Whites beat Lahore Whites by eight wickets.

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 317 in 103.4 overs (Wahab Dar 80, Anas Mahmood 71, Ali Azmat 56, Asif Raza 52, Farhan Khan 24; Raza-ul-Hasan 4-73, Azam Hussain 4-103); 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) and 54-2 in 7.2 (Saad Ali 23 not out, Faraz Ali 21 not out; Umaid Asif 2-29).

At KRL Stadium, Rawalpindi: Match drawn.

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) and 197-4 in 51 overs (Shoaib Ahmed Minhas 116 not out, Saeed Anwar Jr 34, Nawaz Ahmed 31 not out; Atif Jabbar 2-20); NBP 228 in 90.4 overs (Usman Salahuddin 108 not out, Kamran Ghulam 38, Faizan Khan 23, Faisal bin Mubashir 21; Mohammad Abbas 5-30, Ahmed Bashir 2-45).

Final standings

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

Pool ‘A’

Wapda 7 5 1 1 46

UBL 7 3 1 3 36

SSGC 7 2 0 5 26

HBL 7 2 2 3 21

Lahore Blues 7 2 3 2 19

Islamabad 7 2 3 2 21

Peshawar 7 1 2 4 9

Karachi Blues 7 0 5 2 0

Pool ‘B’

KRL 7 4 0 3 45

SNGPL 7 4 2 1 36

NBP 7 3 0 4 29

Karachi Whites 7 3 2 2 27

Fata 7 3 2 2 24

Rawalpindi 7 1 4 2 15

Lahore Whites 7 1 3 3 9

PIA 7 1 6 0 9

Teams in bold qualified for Super Eight stage

Published in Dawn, November 16th, 2016