KARACHI: Wapda were on the brink of a demoralising defeat in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship final on Sunday after Samiullah Khan Niazi grabbed five wickets to put Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNPL) in driving seat.

At the conclusion of a action-packed penultimate day here at the National Stadium, Wapda were in complete disarray at 108-7 in pursuit of a 257-run target. Wapda’s mayhem was caused by the 35-year-old balding figure of Samiullah who followed up a sensational new-ball burst of three wickets with a brace before stumps were drawn for the day.

Wapda still require 149 runs, with Khushdil Shah (8) and Khalid Usman (14) at the crease, but have just three wickets standing.

After the first session of day four was dominated by SNGPL’s overnight pair of Iftikhar Ahmed and Mohammad Rizwan, who extended their magnificent partnership to a game-defining 193 in 417 balls after coming together at 21-4 on Saturday afternoon, the Wapda batsmen, inexplicably, let pressure of batting last penetrate their minds.

Salman Butt, the skipper who played a sterling role in Wapda lifting the coveted trophy last year with century in each innings in the day-night pink ball final against Habib Bank, just could not get going on this occasion as the 33-year-old ex-Pakistan captain perished for only four runs in the second innings.

The opener had no answer to a sharp one from Samiullah as the wily left-armer trapped him leg-before-wicket for the second time here. Samiullah, a former international, struck twice in his net two overs as well.

The left-handed Adnan Raees, who made 65 in the first innings, was nicely held at second slip by Asad Shafiq before Mohammad Saad — Wapda’s leading run-getter in the championship — edged a simple catch to Rizwan behind the stumps to leave his side at 12-3 with those wickets tumbling in the space of 22 deliveries.

Opener Zahid Mansoor, who had seen three partners desert him, and Aamir Sajjad then weathered the storm as the two right-handers shared a stand of 74 in 92 minutes during they scored 38 each while together consuming 144 balls and surviving a barrage of constant appeals from the rampant SNGPL slip cordon.

Zahid and Aamir had set the stage for the defending champions to regroup but the pendulum swung dramatically back in favour of the opposition as four wickets fell in 18 balls without a single run added as 86-3 suddenly became 86-7 in a matter of few minutes.

The rot set in when Zahid tried to play against the spin against Yasir Shah and was caught in the cover by a gleeful SNGPL skipper Mohammad Hafeez off a leading edge. Next up, Aamir sliced a chance to gulley where Iftikhar was in no mood to make a mistake as Samiullah celebrated his 500th wicket in first-class cricket.

The coup de grace was delivered by the bubbly Yasir who forced Kamran Akmal, of all people, to cut a flipper which kept a trifle low off the ninth ball faced by the former Pakistan wicket-keeper/batsman.

Mohammad Asif, who was surprisingly promoted as the nightwatchman with still a little over half an hour to go before stumps, was clueless when Samiullah cleaned him up.

Samiullah, who took his 25th five-for, has thus far claimed 5-38 while Yasir, wicketless in the first innings, has picked up 2-37.

But Wapda’s head coach Zahid Umar, an ex-player himself, refused to give up. “I just tell my boys to forget what transpired today. Both Khalid [Usman] and Khushdil [Shah] are good enough batsmen to guide team to victory. I know the situation is precarious for us but I’m not giving up yet because anything can happen come day five.”

Earlier, Iftikhar reached a wonderful century while fellow Pakistan discard Rizwan fell nine short of the mark as SNGPL, resuming at 141-4, totalled 268 in the second innings. The pair batted through the first session before Rizwan edged spinner Zahid to Adnan at slip. His knock of 91 off 200 balls in 316 minutes with 11 fours.

Iftikhar would have been bowled on 92 but a no-ball from Zahid enabled him to reach an eighth first-class hundred. He was eventually out for 106 with his 254-ball innings, lasting 375 minutes, containing 11 boundaries.

Scoreboard

SNGPL (1st Innings) 259 (Iftikhar Ahmed 73, Mohammad Rizwan 42, Khurram Shehzad 29, Asad Shafiq 23; Wahab Riaz 4-61, Waqas Maqsood 51, 51, Mohammad Asif 2-42).

WAPDA (1st Innings) 271 (Kamran Akmal 67, Adnan Raees 65, Aamir Sajjad 35, Khalid Usman 26, Salman Butt 24; Mohammad Abbas 4-57, Samiullah Khan Niazi 3-67, Azizullah 3-67).

SNGPL (2nd Innings, overnight 141-4):

Mohammad Hafeez c Aamir b Waqas 4
Azhar Ali c Kamran b Asif 6
Khurram Shehzad lbw b Asif 9
Asad Shafiq lbw b Waqas 1
Iftikhar Ahmed lbw b Waqas 106
Mohammad Rizwan c Adnan b Khalid 91
Imran Khalid c Aamir b Zahid 6
Yasir Shah c Adnan b Khalid 21
Azizullah b Wahab 2
Samiullah Khan Niazi c Kamran b Asif 2
Mohammad Abbas not out 0

EXTRAS (B-2, LB-2, W-11, NB-5) 20

TOTAL (all out, 94.2 overs) 268

FALL OF WKTS: 1-8, 2-16, 3-17, 4-21, 5-214, 6-228, 7-251, 8-266, 9-268.

BOWLING: Mohammad Asif 22.2-3-63-3 (6w); Waqas Maqsood 21-5-54-3 (2nb, 1w); Khalid Usman 16-2-47-2; Wahab Riaz 18-2-47-1; Zahid Mansoor 17-2-53-1 (3nb).

WAPDA (2nd Innings):

Salman Butt lbw b Samiullah 4
Zahid Mansoor c Hafeez b Yasir 38
Adnan Raees c Asad b Samiullah 5
Mohammad Saad c Rizwan b Samiullah 0
Aamir Sajjad c Iftikhar b Samiullah 38
Kamran Akmal b Yasir 0
Mohammad Asif b Samiullah 0
Khushdil Shah not out 8
Khalid Usman not out 14

EXTRAS (LB-1) 1

TOTAL (for seven wkts, 34 overs) 108

FALL OF WKTS: 1-4, 2-10, 3-12, 4-86, 5-86, 6-86, 7-86.

BOWLING (to-date): Samiullah Khan Niazi 11-3-38-5; Mohammad Abbas 11-3-21-0; Azizullah 3-0-11-0; Yasir Shah 9-2-37-2.

Published in Dawn, December 25th, 2017