KARACHI: Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) have a fight on their hands as they bid to retain the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship title after building a lead of 168 on the penultimate day of the five-day final against Habib Bank Limited (HBL) here at the UBL Sports Complex on Friday.

The frustration on SNGPL skipper Misbah-ul-Haq’s face was apparent when the ex-Pakistan captain removed the bails as he walked off after umpires Mohammad Asif and Faisal Afridi rightly called off play as the light faded. At that point 10.1 overs still remained in the day.

After HBL had added 23 runs to the overnight tally of 449-8 in 40 minutes to be dismissed for 472 with Ramiz Aziz finishing undefeated on 58, the only option available to SNGPL was to go for quick runs.

By stumps the champions had wiped off the first-innings deficit of 168 by reaching 336-5.

The first session of nothing short of a marathon since it lasted 210 minutes before the lunch-cum-Friday prayers break arrived at 1:30pm. In the period leading up to the interval Imran Butt and Ali Waqas had guided their side to 129 without loss.

The stand was finally broken at 170 when the left-handed Ali (65 off 136 balls, six boundaries) was brilliantly held at slip by substitute Mohammad Waqas as he tried to glide off-spinner Agha Salman.

Imran followed quickly as Rehman induced the right-hander, who made a brisk 95 from 125 balls with the aid of 13 fours), to sweep but the aborted attempted resulted in a simple catch nabbed by wicket-keeper Jamal Anwar.

Adnan Akmal, playing the final as specialist batsman, completely misjudged an Umar Gul delivery in trying to glide one to the third man region while Khurram Shehzad (40 off 48, three fours) holed out to Saad Khan in the deep off Rehman.

The same bowler-fielder combination later accounted for Iftikhar Ahmed (52 off 42, four fours and one six) before Imran Khalid, 41 off 31 (two sixes and one four), and Misbah (14) saw out the remaining play.

With a current lead of 168, SNGPL are certainly not going to sit back on Saturday’s last day because they have to now seal an outright win to keep the trophy, while a draw would be sufficient for HBL to complete a grand double this season following last month’s Quaid-i-Azam One-day Cup triumph.

Scoreboard

SNGPL (1st Innings) 304 (Misbah-ul-Haq 91, Khurram Shehzad 47, Mohammad Imran 40, Ali Waqas 38; Abdur Rehman 4-91, Khurram Shehzad 3- -65).

HABIB BANK (1st Innings, overnight 449-8):

Abid Ali c Iftikhar b Bilawal 134
Jamal Anwar lbw b Asad 19
Agha Salman c Ali Waqas b Azizullah 56
Umar Akmal c Misbah b Khurram 113
Imran Farhat c Adnan b Khurram 20
Ramiz Aziz not out 58
Saad Khan c Imran But b M. Imran 4
Faheem Ashraf c Adnan b Bilawal 23
Abdur Rehman c Khurram b Imran Khalid 10
Umar Gul lbw b Imran Khalid 0
Khurram Shehzad c Imran Butt b Asad 4

EXTRAS (B-12, LB-9, W-2, NB-8) 31

TOTAL (all out, 160.5 overs) 472 fall of wkts: 1-27, 2-177, 3-299, 4-360, 5-367, 6-374, 7-424, 8-449, 9-451.

BOWLING: Asad Ali 24.5-11-65-2 (3nb); Azizullah 21-7-50-1; Imran Khalid 40-4-125-2; Bilawal Bhatti 30-2-110-2 (2nb, 2w); Mohammad Imran 12-1-28-1 (3nb); Iftikhar Ahmed 26-7-59-0 (1nb); Khurram Shehzad 7-3-14-2.

SNGPL (2nd Innings):

Imran Butt c Jamal b Rehman 95
Ali Waqas c sub b Salman 65
Khurram Shehzad c Saad b Rehman 40
Adnan Akmal b Umar Gul 17
Iftikhar Ahmed c Imran b Rehman 52
Imran Khalid not out 41
Misbah-ul-Haq not out 14

EXTRAS (B-4- LB-8) 12

TOTAL (for five wkts, 69.5 overs) 336

FALL OF WKTS: 1-170, 2-174, 3-209, 4-269, 5-306.

BOWLING (to-date): Umar Gul 8-0-67-1; Khurram Shehzad 4-1-14-0; Abdur Rehman 32-1-123-3; Faheem Ashraf 7.5-1-40-0; Agha Salman 14-1-53-1; Saad Khan 4-0-27-0.

Published in Dawn, December 8th, 2018