KARACHI: The element of fight seemed to have gone out of Northern as Central Punjab rode on contrasting centuries from Azhar Ali and Umar Akmal to build a commanding lead in their First XI final of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy at the National Stadium here on Saturday.

The way this title-decider has moved, it is almost unlikely that the fixture would last its scheduled duration. Central Punjab batsmen — headed by Azhar and Umar — enjoyed a festive second day by extending their overnight score from 87-1 to 466-5 — while piling up 379 runs and maintaining a rapid run-rate of 4.57 from 83 overs that were delivered — giving them a cushion of 212 runs with still three days to go.

The only chance Northern had of clawing back into the contest was a bucketful of quick wickets in the first session. But they managed one and that too due to young Mohammad Musa Khan’s intelligence. The speedster, who made a chastening Test debut in Adelaide last month, harried the vastly-experienced Salman Butt into a state of anxiety.

Salman, who had otherwise batted with composure and poise for his 97-ball knock of 74 (13 fours), was fed with several short-pitched deliveries with men stationed in the deep for the possible hook attempt. But the left-hander kept ducking underneath until Musa changed gears and pitched up a very quick one.

The end result was predictable as Salman was going nowhere as his feet movement mattered, while the ball crashed into the stumps. Until that piece of high drama, Salman and Azhar had added 95 for the second wicket in 116 minutes.

Given his sublime form Babar Azam now appears to bat in a trance. And Saturday was no exception as the Central Punjab captain serenely compiled 69 (off 89 balls, nine fours and one six) in 136 minutes during the third-wicket partnership of 125 with the Pakistan Test skipper. A fourth century in last five matches — including three from four Tests — beckons for the prodigiously talented right-hander but Babar also has the tendency of playing loose, and such shot saw him edge left-arm paceman Sadaf Hussain to Zeeshan Malik in the slips.

Umar then arrived to open his account with a straight blow onto the sightscreen off Northern captain Nauman Ali and then simply blossomed with series of outrageous strokes on both sides of the lush-green outfield.

Azhar, in the meantime, wasn’t in the mood to squander the chance of reaching his second ton on the trot. Following on the heels of his second-innings hundred in the Karachi Test against Sri Lanka, Azhar, who resumed the day on 15, made it to three figures from 186 deliveries in 287 minutes.

Azhar’s long vigil came to a halt after tea when he tried to cut Nauman but only managed to nick a catch to Rohail Nazir behind the timbers. His 119 (212 balls) in 330 minutes was his 39th first-class hundred in 198 first-class matches.

Umar marched on to a 17th hundred of his rather bizarre career, needing exactly 100 balls less than Azhar did to reach the three-figure mark and had advanced to 123 (115 balls, 12 fours and five sixes) by close of play.

Older sibling Kamran struck a 58-ball 41 (four boundaries while putting on 98 in 84 overs with Umar before slicing a low catch to Ali Sarfraz in the covers.

The dominance of Central Punjab can be gauged by the rate they paced their progress. The first period yielded 97 runs in 25 overs, the afternoon 122 from 26 and the extended final session saw them make 162 in 32 overs.

Scoreboard

NORTHERN (1st Innings) 254 (Faizan Riaz 116, Rohail Nazir 80; Faheem Ashraf 5-54, Bilal Asif 3-37, Aizaz Cheema 2-56).

CENTRAL PUNJAB (1st Innings, overnight 87-1):

Salman Butt b Musa 74

Ahmed Shehzad c Umar b Nauman 20

Azhar Ali c Rohail b Nauman 119

Babar Azam c Zeeshan b Sadaf 69

Umar Akmal not out 123

Kamran Akmal c Ali b Hammad 41

Zafar Gohar not out 9

EXTRAS (LB-3, W-7, NB-1) 11

TOTAL (for five wkts, 104 overs) 466

FALL OF WKTS: 1-30, 2-125, 3-250, 4-343, 5-441.

TO BAT: Faheem Ashraf, Bilal Asif, Ehsan Adil, Aizaz Cheema.

BOWLING (to-date): Waqas Ahmed 19-3-103-0; Sadaf Hussain 17-1-79-1 (2w); Nauman Ali 26-4-113-2; Mohammad Musa Khan 23-4-79-1 (1nb, 1w); Hammad Azam Faizan Riaz Umar Amin 3-0-24-0.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2019