KARACHI: Defending champions Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) were a fortunate lot that they had the services of Mohammad Abbas during the first-round of their Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship’s Super Eight stage clash last week.

But Misbah-ul-Haq’s side — which banked heavily on Abbas as they decimated Water and Power Development Authority (Wapda) by 76 runs with the ace Pakistan Test seamer grabbing this season’s second-best match bag of 12 wickets for 92 runs — now have to seek inspiration elsewhere since Abbas is away in the UAE on national duty for the upcoming three Tests against Kane Williamson-led New Zealand.

Without a shadow of doubt Abbas made the huge difference in SNGPL’s securing nine points against the Salman Butt-led Wapda team at the SBP Sports Complex. On the traditionally spinning track on offer at the NBP Sports Complex, the champions could be in a hard grind against Lahore Blues, who lost to Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) by 141 runs at the same venue last Saturday, in the second-round fixture from Tuesday.

In the forced absence of Abbas, SNGPL’s other pacemen, Pakistan discard Bilawal Bhatti and young Mohammad Musa Khan, will have to shoulder the main burden while their spin department looks rather thin because their chief weapon Yasir Shah will also be involved in the New Zealand series over the next three weeks.

Further SNGPL are depleted on the batting front as well with Pakistan Test specialists Asad Shafiq and Azhar Ali also missing out, while wicket-keeper/batsman Mohammad Rizwan is yet another absentee as he prepares to lead Pakistan ‘A’ against England Lions in the UAE after skippering the national second-stringers against New Zealand ‘A’ in recent weeks.

One man who has failed to reclaim his place in the Sarfraz Ahmed-led Pakistan side across all formats following a disastrous Asia Cup in September is Mohammad Amir. The left-armer’s presence in the Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGCL) ranks since the national selectors lost patience with the 26-year-old is indeed a big boost for Umar Amin and company as they prepare to take on Habib Bank Limited (HBL) at the UBL Sports Complex.

HBL ran out easy victors inside two days by nine wickets on a dicey UBL surface against Karachi Whites as retired Pakistan slow left-armer Abdur Rehman helped himself to the current season’s biggest individual match haul of 14-120, including 8-70 in the first innings.

However, the pitch dished out for the second-round clash appears to be more in favour of batsmen rather than a square turner that saw just 525 runs being scored for the loss of 31 wickets during the HBL-Karachi Whites game.

SSGCL, who defeated Peshawar by 108 runs at the Southend Club, will have work cut out against Saleem Jaffer’s charges who expect a tough outing against a side that has former Test wicket-keeper Atiq-uz-Zaman as the head coach.

Despite losing their opening fixture, Wapda still stand a great chance of reaching the final for the third successive time as they tackle KRL at the SBP Sports Complex with all first-choice stars available. To achieve their ambitions, Wapda need maximum points in this fixture as well as the last one versus Lahore Blues at the NBP Sports Complex next week.

Peshawar, meanwhile, would be going all out to garner at least nine points when they meet Karachi Whites at the Southend Club.

Schedule (Nov 13-16):

Super Eight stage, second round:

Group-I: KRL vs Wapda (SBP Sports Complex, Karachi); SNGPL vs Lahore Blues (NBP Sports Complex, Karachi).

Group-II: HBL vs SSGCL (UBL Sports Complex, Karachi); Karachi Whites vs Peshawar (Southend Club, Karachi).

Published in Dawn, November 13th, 2018