KARACHI: It took 67.4 overs for Northern to dismiss Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on a tense last day of the league round First XI fixture here at the UBL Sports Complex on Thursday before they finally set a date with Central Punjab in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy final.

While the other two matches headed for predictable draws, Northern had to secure a victory to make the cut at the expense of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, whom they defeated by 39 runs in the post-tea session to surge into the all-important second place, just three points behind Central Punjab who topped the six-team standings with 133.

The result was never beyond the reach of the Northern side given the fact Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — who had gone into this match undefeated — were batting last on a day-four pitch after having already lost the key wickets of their captain, Fakhar Zaman, and his opening partner Sahibzada Farhan on Wednesday evening after being set a target of 246.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa made steady progress after resuming at 39-2 as they inched their way to 121-5 at the luncheon interval, but crucially lost the key scalp of a well-set Israrullah after fist-innings’ wrecker-in-chief Waqas Ahmed had trapped Ashfaq Ahmed for 10 early in the morning.

In between those two dismissals, Northern skipper Nauman Ali — already the highest wicket-taker in the revamped championship — celebrated his 50th victim by having Mehran Ibrahim (10) well caught by an alert Ali Sarfraz at short leg.

The left-handed Israrullah looked solid as he reached exactly 50. But his 64-ball knock, featuring seven boundaries, was cut short by shrewd captaincy when Nauman called upon the experienced Sohail Tanvir. The discarded Pakistan left-arm seamer darted one delivery across Israrullah who edged it to Jamal Anwar behind the stumps.

Northern then made another inroad immediately upon resumption of play in the second session as the promoted Sajid Khan perished for 9, dismissed by left-arm speedster Sadaf Hussain without any addition to the lunch total.

With Adil Amin and Zohaib Khan as their last pair of recognised batsmen at the crease, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were very much in the contest, until Nauman removed Adil for 31 and Rehan Afridi — the top-scorer in the first innings with that defiant unbeaten innings of 95 — for a 10-ball duck.

But Zohaib was not giving up hopes of a miraculous win for his side. Usman Khan Shinwari (17 off 73 balls) supported him admirably for 82 minutes while putting on 39 for the ninth wicket. However, Usman’s luck ran out when Sadaf returned to induce the tailender providing Ali with his third catch of the day.

And although Junaid Khan hung around for 46 scoreless minutes, the writing was on the wall when the last man fell to the occasional leg-spin of Faizan Riaz, leaving Zohaib stranded on 51 not out (122 balls, four fours and one six) after a stay of two minutes short of three hours as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa folded up for 205 in their second innings.

Nauman, appropriately enough, was the most successful bowler with figures of 4-72 in 28 overs as the entire Northern brigade celebrated their qualification for the Dec 27-31 title-decider at the National Stadium with great enthusiasm. Even their phlegmatic head coach — and the ex-Pakistan batsman — Mohammad Wasim couldn’t hold his emotions in control as he joined his delirious charges on the field.

Meanwhile, Fawad Alam, Salman Butt, Ahmed Shehzad and Imran Butt all scored centuries for their respective outfits in the remaining ties.

Central Punjab collected 309-1 in their second innings against Southern Punjab — who finished their campaign without suffering any defeat — on the docile the SBP Sports Complex pitch after starting the day at 1-0.

While skipper Shehzad matched his first-innings score of 100 (159 balls, 10 fours and two sixes), Salman compiled 158 (256 balls, 19 boundaries) as the duo put on 185 for the unbroken second-wicket partnership after Kamran Akmal (47 off 72 balls, five fours) had been involved in the opening stand of 124 with Shehzad.

The main interest at the National Stadium was whether Fawad would register another century under his belt, which the doughty left-hander eventually did after beginning the day at his overnight tally of 69. The long-discarded Test left-hander, who ironically is being tipped to be named in the squad for the Sri Lanka series, reached 116 (223 balls, 11 fours and one six) as Sindh amassed 515 in reply to Balochistan’s 471.

Fawad’s fourth hundred of the season was his 34th as improved his average to 56.84 in a remarkable first-class of 165 matches.

In the remaining time left in the game, Imran Butt hit up an unbeaten 101 (99 balls, 15 boundaries) to become the first batsman to cross the 900-run mark in the championship as Balochistan posted 181-1 in the second innings.

Scores and results on Thursday (final day of four):

First XI:

10th round:

At UBL Sports Complex, Karachi: Northern beat Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by 39 runs.

NORTHERN 411-8 declared in 106.4 overs (Sarmad Bhatti 109, Hammad Azam 76, Faizan Riaz 63, Zeeshan Malik 61, Ali Sarfraz 50, Sohail Tanvir 26; Sajid Khan 4-121, Usman Khan Shinwari 2-71) and 139-6 declared in 25.2 overs (Zeeshan Malik 52, Faizan Riaz 22; Sajid Khan 2-15); KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA 306 in 100.2 overs (Rehan Afridi 95 not out, Fakhar Zaman 66, Mehran Ibrahim 54, Ashfaq Ahmed 29; Waqas Ahmed 6-109, Nauman Ali 2-56) and 205 in 76.4 overs (Zohaib Khan 51 not out, Israrullah 50, Adil Amin 31; Nauman Ali 4-72, Sadaf Hussain 2-44).

At SBP Sports Complex, Karachi: Match drawn.

CENTRAL PUNJAB 597-9 declared in 170 overs (Abdullah Shafiq 133, Usman Salahuddin 114, Mohammad Saad 105, Ahmed Shehzad 100, Kamran Akmal 68; Agha Salman 3-85, Rahat Ali 2-104, Zia-ul-Haq 2-145, Zulfiqar Babar 2-151) and 309-1 in 81 overs (Salman Butt 158 not out, Ahmed Shehzad 100 not out, Kamran Akmal 47); SOUTHERN PUNJAB 392 in 95.1 overs (Zeeshan Ashraf 141, Agha Salman 140, Abdul Rehman Muzammil 29, Umar Siddique 27; Bilal Asif 5-130, Ehsan Adil 3-75, Zafar Gohar 2-110). At National Stadium, Karachi: Match drawn.

BALOCHISTAN 471-9 declared in 150.2 overs (Imran Farhat 137, Akbar-ur-Rehman 122, Amad Butt 106, Asif Zakir 53; Mir Hamza 4-98, Sohail Khan 3-75) and 181-1 in 26.2 overs (Imran Butt 101 not out, Imran Farhat 40, Bismillah Khan 33); SINDH 515 in 170.1 overs (Saud Shakeel 151, Khurram Manzoor 109, Fawad Alam 116, Anwar Ali 58, Hasan Mohsin 23; Jalat Khan 3-96, Taj Wali 3-122, Khurram Shehzad 2-111).

Published in Dawn, December 6th, 2019