KARACHI: Former Pakistan paceman Mohammad Asif capped a grand return to action by grabbing a 11-wicket haul as holders Wapda defeated Islamabad inside two days in their third-round Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship fixture on Tuesday.

After a dramatic opening day on Monday during which 24 wickets went down, Wapda completed a swift demolition job at the Diamond Club Ground as they surged to top of Group ‘A’ with 24 points with this six-wicket success.

Having bagged 5-28 the other day, Asif picked up six for 53, giving the 34-year-old match figures of 11-81 as Islamabad mustered 177 all out in their second innings.

Needing 143, Wapda rode on skipper Salman Butt’s 63 to secure their third straight victory in the championship.

Almost-forgotten Pakistan batsman Fawad Alam sent yet another emphatic reminder to the national selectors as the doughty left-hander stroked his way to a 26th first-class century just two days after celebrating his 32nd birthday as Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) earned a lead of 64 by reaching 355-6 in reply to Lahore Blues’ 291 at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.

Fawad hit 11 fours and one six in making 105 from 157 balls as he and all-rounder Aamir Yamin (72) added 115 for the fifth wicket after SSGC were in trouble at 178-4.

Slow left-armer Imran Khalid took 4-56 to restrict Faisalabad to 173, giving Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) a 68-run lead at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad. By stumps, SNGPL advanced to 25-0 in the second innings to hold an overall lead of 93.

Despite skipper Rameez Raja hitting up 150 (off 167 balls, 21 fours and four sixes), National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) managed out 254 all out in their response to Peshawar’s 264 at the Abbottabad Cricket Stadium in Abbottabad.

Rameez and Ali Asad, who made 63, shared a second-wicket partnership of 176.

Peshawar then out up a solid display to collect 197-3 in their second innings.

The Group ‘B’ fixture here at the UBL Sports Complex is heading for an early finish after the struggling Karachi Whites limped to 16-2 in their chase for 241 against Khan Research Laboratories (KRL).

On a sweltering day in Karachi with the mercury touching an unbearable 41-degree centigrade, wickets continued to fall at regular intervals.

Replying to KRL’s first-innings 244, Karachi Whites lost eight wickets for 95 after resuming at 6-2 with paceman Ali Shafiq claiming 5-31.

Gangling paceman Abdullah Muqaddam then bagged 5-34 as KRL were shot out for 97 in the second innings.

Bowlers also had a field day at the LCCA Ground in Lahore as 19 wickets fell in the game between Lahore Whites and Habib Bank Limited (HBL).

The regional side was dismissed for 71 in reply to HBL’s 194 but hit back quickly to bowl out the departmental outfit for just 98 with paceman Umaid Asif bagging 6-28 and spinner Mohammad Irfan 4-18.

Lahore Whites, requiring 222 for victory, closed the day at 72-1.

United Bank Limited (UBL) were on brink of a third consecutive innings’ success as Fata stuttered to 51-3 after being forced to follow on at the Jinnah Stadium in Sialkot.

After UBL had been all out for 61, Fata responded by totaling only 143 with ex-Pakistan Under-19 fast bowler Sameen Gul picking up 5-47.

Pakistan Television (PTV) matched Rawalpindi by levelling the latter’s score of 251 with one wicket standing at the Pindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi.

Close of play scores and result on Tuesday (day two of four):

Third round:

Group ‘A’:

At Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad: SNGPL 241 in 92.4 overs (Ali Waqas 58, Bilawal Bhatti 45 not out, Mohammad Rizwan 38, Misbah-ul-Haq 21; Ahmed Safi 4-66, Asad Raza 3-52, Ibtisam Sheikh 2-39) and 25-0 in 7 overs; FAISALABAD 173 in 76.5 overs (Asif Ali 48, Hasan Mahmood 27; Imran Khalid 4-66, Bilawal Bhatti 3-31).

At Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore: LAHORE BLUES 291 in 88 overs (Saad Nasim 123, Irfan Haider 50, Salman Ali Agha 30, Zain-ul-Hasnain 29; Aamir Yamin 6-44, Zia-ul-Haq 2-55); SSGC 355-6 in 88 overs (Fawad Alam 105 not out, Aamir Yamin 72, Zain Abbas 46, Awais Zia 38; Bilawal Iqbal 3-60, Salman Ali Agha 2-71).

At Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad: Wapda beat Islamabad by six wickets.

ISLAMABAD 81 in 32.1 overs (Fahad Iqbal 27, Sarmad Bhatti 25; Mohammad Asif 5-28, Zulfiqar Babar 3-15, Mohammad Ali Bhutta 2-27) and 177 in 56 overs (Mohammad Asif 6-53, Hasnain Bukhari 2-49, Mohammad Ali Bhutta 2-61); WAPDA 116 in 27 overs (Aamir Sajjad 43; Shehzad Azam Rana 5-40, Hamza Nadeem 4-35) and 143-4 in 39 overs (Salman Butt 62, Aamir Sajjad 33 not out).

At Abbottabad Cricket Stadium, Abbottabad: PESHAWAR 264 in 63.2 overs (Jamaluddin 47, M. Imran Khan 32, Ubaidullah 29, Ashfaq Ahmed 28, Nasir Awais 26, Gohar Ali 25; Altaf Ahmed 6-57, Mohammad Ismail 2-68) and 187-3 in 37 overs (Sahibzada Farhan 51, Ubaidullah 39 not out, Ashfaq Ahmed 37, Mehran Ibrahim 25 not out, Israrullah 25; Raza Hasan 2-55); NBP 254 in 66.2 overs (Rameez Raja 150, Ali Asad 63; M. Imran Khan 4-76, Israrullah 3-18, Nasir Awais 2-48).

Group ‘B’:

At UBL Sports Complex, Karachi: KRL 244 in 80.2 overs (Saeed Anwar Jr 74, Jaahid Ali 36, Shoaib Ahmed Minhas 28; Hassaan Khan 3-41, Abdullah Muqaddam 3-58, Raza-ul-Hasan 3-61) and 97 in 32 overs (Usman Arshad 23; Abdullah Muqaddam 5-34, Faraz Ali 3-37, Mohammad Sami 2-14); KARACHI WHITES 101 in 44.3 overs (Faraz Ali 4; Ali Shafiq 5-31, Sadaf Hussain 3-38) and 16-2 in 8 overs.

At LCCA Ground, Lahore: HBL 194 in 67.3 overs (Azeem Ghumman 37, Abdur Rehman 35, Ramiz Aziz 28; Mohammad Irfan 4-49, Umaid Asif 3-46, Mohammad Aftab 2-41) and 98 in 28.1 overs (Fazal Subhan 45; Umaid Asif 6-28, Mohammad Irfan 4-18); LAHORE WHITES 71 in 34.5 overs (Israr-ul-Haq 2-3, Usman Khan Shinwari 2-7, Abdur Rehman 2-13, Ammad Butt 2-15) and 72-1 in 16 overs (Rizwan Hussain 33 not out).

At Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot: UBL 361 in 110.3 overs (Gulraiz Sadaf 69, Saad Ali 67, Akbar-ur-Rehman 42, Hammad Azam 42, Mohammad Nawaz 39, Umar Siddique 34, Sohail Khan 32; Hafeez-ur-Rehman 5-76, Asif Afridi 3-84); FATA 143 in 43 overs (Asif Ali 41 not out; Sameen Gul 5-47, Sohail Khan 3-33) and 51-3 in 13 overs (Sameen Gul 2-18).

At Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi: RAWALPINDI 251 in 68.2 overs (Ataullah 53 not out, Sarmad Hameed 52, Naved Malik 46, Umair Masood 45; Tabish Khan 4-59, Hasan Mohsin 3-49, Saud Shakeel 2-7) vs PTV 251-9 in 89 overs (Taimur Khan 69, Adnan Mahmood 55, Faisal Khan 48; Ataullah 6-90, Abid Hasan 2-25).

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2017

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