Five-star Faheem wrecks Northern despite Faizan’s century

Khalid H. Khan Published December 28, 2019

NORTHERN’S centurion Faizan Riaz takes the aerial route against Central Punjab spinner Zafar Gohar during the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy final at the National Stadium on Friday.
—Tahir Jamal/White Star — NORTHERN’S centurion Faizan Riaz takes the aerial route against Central Punjab spinner Zafar Gohar during the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy final at the National Stadium on Friday. —Tahir Jamal/White Star

KARACHI: Discarded Pakistan seamer Faheem Ashraf excelled with a five-wicket haul as the star-laden Central Punjab extended their dominance over Northern in the revamped Quaid-e-Azam Trophy on an eventful opening day of the five-day final here at the National Stadium on Friday.

Having strolled to comfortable victories twice in Faisalabad at the preliminary stage of the competition, Central Punjab once again put up a near-perfect performance chiefly through the inspiring bowling from Faheem. The out-of-favour Pakistan all-rounder rediscovered his form with the ball to claim a sixth five-for in first-class cricket to send Northern nose-diving to 254 all out, with Faizan Riaz striking a wonderful 116.

Central Punjab in reply were trailing by 167 runs after making 87-1 at draw of stumps with Salman Butt looking in ominous touch. The former Pakistan captain pierced the in-field nine times to finish the evening on 48 from 67 balls. Test skipper Azhar Ali, in contrast, somehow struggled for his 17 runs despite having regained form with a second-innings ton on the same turf here against Sri Lanka last Sunday before leading Pakistan to a 1-0 series win.

Ahmed Shehzad was the only man dismissed for the title favourites — who are fielding an international XI — when he was brilliantly held at short cover by a diving Umar Amin off captain Nauman Ali for 22.

But the talk of day one was Northern losing their way. Barring the impressive Faizan and current Pakistan U-19 skipper Rohail Nazir, it was a tale of abject surrender from the their batsmen after Nauman opted to bat first on a straw-coloured pitch. Every time Faheem came on to bowl he looked like taking a wicket. The 25-year-old from Kasur ended up grabbing five for 54 in 14 overs.

The pick of his victims, of course, was Faizan. The right-hander, who began the season in the Second XI event before forcing his way up, looked in impeccable touch at the venue where he just five weeks ago he amassed a superlative 211 against Sindh. But after reaching 116 off 133 balls with the help of 14 boundaries, Faheem undid him with a peach of a delivery that initially darted in before moving away late to induce an outside edge through to wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal.

The demise of Faizan opened the doors for Central Punjab to barge in as the last five wickets went down for the addition of only 30 runs in 63 balls as Test off-spinner Bilal Asif took 3-37.

After looking on course for a sizeable first-innings total with both Faizan and Rohail stitching together 155 runs for the sixth wicket in 149 minutes on either side of Friday’s solitary recess in play, the sudden capitulation in late afternoon cost Northern heavily.

The extended three-hour first session was a tale of two halves. Initially, Central Punjab had Northern in deep strife at 69-5. But the latter then made a magnificent recovery through the resolute partnership, which yielded 102 runs from 134 deliveries at the break.

Faizan, who until this season was relatively an unknown face on the domestic circuit, once again really showed why he is rated so highly by Northern head coach Mohammad Wasim as a batsman of quality. A student of Mass Communication, the 31-year-old exhibited great calmness while rescuing his side from a perilous position.

The admirable Faizan first denied Aizaz Cheema the opportunity of claiming hat-trick after the former Pakistan seamer had dismissed Haider Ali and Umar Amin on consecutive balls in this third over from the University Road End and then shepherd young Rohail during the tricky period.

The Sargodha-born Aizaz, who is still going strong despite turning 40 last September with 570 wickets from previous 139 first-class matches, had young Haider edging a full length delivery to Shehzad at first slip. The next ball was slanted across the left-hander Umar who failed to bat his out of the line, ex-Pakistan wicket-keeper leaving Kamran Akmal poached a fine, low catch.

Faizan nonchalantly pushed his first ball to the mid-off boundary and carried in the same vein throughout his 211-minute stay.

Rohail, reprieved on 50 in the first over after the one-hour interval off Test spinner Bilal Asif when Zafar Gohar dropped a simple chance at short leg, perished for a three-hour 80 (off 115 balls, 12 fours) to a rush of blood against Asif as the talented wicket-keeper/batsman holed out to Zafar, who was stationed in the mid-off region.

Overall, it was a thoroughly entertaining in terms of boundaries scored by both teams. According to senior PCB scorer Salman Hussain Kazmi, who on Friday completed a notable silver jubilee in this profession at the first-class and international levels, Northern’s innings contained 34 fours and Central Punjab has so far sent the Kookaburra ball across the fence 16 times, bringing first day’s total to 50.

Scoreboard

NORTHERN (1st Innings):

Haider Ali c Shehzad b Aizaz 8

Zeeshan Malik c Azhar b Faheem 16

Umar Amin c Kamran b Aizaz 0

Faizan Riaz c Kamran b Faheem 116

Ali Sarfraz c Bilal b Faheem 8

Hammad Azam c Kamran b Faheem 6

Rohail Nazir c Zafar b Bilal 80

Nauman Ali c Shehzad b Bilal 10

Waqas Ahmed c Azhar b Bilal 2

Mohammad Musa Khan b Faheem 2