RAWALPINDI: State Bank skipper Saad Ali celebrates reaching his second century of the Patron’s Trophy Grade-II final against HEC at the Pindi Cricket Stadium on Saturday.—Courtesy PCB
RAWALPINDI: State Bank skipper Saad Ali celebrates reaching his second century of the Patron’s Trophy Grade-II final against HEC at the Pindi Cricket Stadium on Saturday.—Courtesy PCB

KARACHI: Saad Ali led from the front with his second century of the match and Umar Waheed also reached three figures as the State Bank of Pakistan shut the doors on the Higher Education Commission (HEC) in their Patron’s Trophy Grade-II cricket tournament final in Rawalpindi on Saturday.

By stumps on the penultimate day of the four-day clash at the Pindi Cricket Stadium, State Bank extended their overnight second-innings score from 34-1 to a colossal 385-5 while holding an unassailable lead of 494 runs.

The highpoint of play was Saad’s unbeaten knock of 153 to follow the elegant left-hander’s first-innings score of 105. Umar made 115 while in two big stands as the right-hander struck 12 boundaries in his 214-ball knock.

Umar and Israrullah put on 96 for the second wicket before the latter departed for an 83-ball 42 which included four fours. Saad then partnered Umar to add 142 for the third wicket to put the match beyond the HEC’s reach.

The only happy moment of the day for the students came when their skipper Asfand Mehran dismissed Umar and Rohail Nazir (0) in the same of four deliveries.

But Saad remained unperturbed as and fellow left-hander Naved Yasin combined to share a fifth-wicket partnership that yielded 113 in 1190 minutes. Naved, who was the top scorer on day one with an undefeated 118, was run out just before stumps for 51. His 93-ball effort was embellished with six hits to the fence.

Saad has so far occupied the crease for 258 minutes during which he negotiated 190 balls and hit 21 boundaries. In the first innings Saad batted for 146 minutes.

The HEC suffered a big setback when young paceman Bilal Anwar pulled up injured after bowling just two deliveries. The brunt of the bowling was done by the spinners, Asfand and fellow slow left-armer Kamran Afzal, while strike bowler Mamoon Riaz delivered 25 overs for 111 runs. His solitary reward was the wicket of Pakistan T20 opener Sahibzada Farhan on Friday evening.

Scoreboard

STATE BANK (1st Innings) 392-6 in 83 overs (Naved Yasin 118 not out, Saad Ali 105, Sahibzada Farhan 90, Rohail Nazir 36; Mamoon Riaz 2-81).

HEC (1st Innings) 283-8 in 83 overs (Mohammad Faiq 82, Hamza Akbar 56 not out, Hammad Butt 44, Kamran Afzal 40; Israrullah 2-26, Mohammad Ilyas 2-74).

STATE BANK (2nd Innings, overnight 34-1):

Umar Waheed lbw b Asfand 115

Sahibzada Farhan c sub b Mamoon 20

Israrullah c Asfand b Kamran 42

Saad Ali not out 153

Rohail Nazir c Kamran b Asfand 0

Naved Yasin run out 51

Mohammad Nawaz not out 0

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-1, W-1, NB-1) 4

TOTAL (for five wkts, 103 overs) 385

FALL OF WKTS: 1-26, 2-122, 3-264, 4-264, 5-377.

BOWLING (to-date): Mamoon Riaz 25-1-111-1 (1w); Fahad Usman

9.4-0-33-0; Kamran Afzal 26-4-77-1 (1nb); Bilal Anwar 0.2-0-4-0; Asfand Mehran 27-3-82-2; Sajid Khan

11-2-64-0; Arsalan Zia 3-2-12-0.

Published in Dawn, May 5th, 2019

Opinion

Editorial

Judiciary’s SOS
Updated 28 Mar, 2024

Judiciary’s SOS

The ball is now in CJP Isa’s court, and he will feel pressure to take action.
Data protection
28 Mar, 2024

Data protection

WHAT do we want? Data protection laws. When do we want them? Immediately. Without delay, if we are to prevent ...
Selling humans
28 Mar, 2024

Selling humans

HUMAN traders feed off economic distress; they peddle promises of a better life to the impoverished who, mired in...
New terror wave
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

New terror wave

The time has come for decisive government action against militancy.
Development costs
27 Mar, 2024

Development costs

A HEFTY escalation of 30pc in the cost of ongoing federal development schemes is one of the many decisions where the...
Aitchison controversy
Updated 27 Mar, 2024

Aitchison controversy

It is hoped that higher authorities realise that politics and nepotism have no place in schools.