KARACHI: Northern were just moments from extending the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy final into the fifth day but a startling collapse sparked by spinner Bilal Asif not only sent them reeling to an innings defeat but also handing Central Punjab at the National Stadium here on Monday.

The melodramatic finale was virtually nonexistent all day as the Northern batsmen — led by young opener Haider Ali — put on staunch resistance after resuming at 109-2 while still requiring 312 to avoid an innings defeat. In the end, Central Punjab still ran out comfortable winners of the revamped competition by innings and 16 runs.

But Bilal, who seemed to have lost favour with Pakistan selectors for over a year now, snared seven of the eight wickets to stumble on the fourth day to claim career-best 8-112 — the 34-year-old’s previous best figures were 6-36, which came on his Test debut against Australia at Dubai in October 2018 — from 31.3 overs and match bag of 11-149 in 41-3 overs across the two innings.

Bilal, who shared the man-of-the-match award with double centurion Umar Akmal, mopped off the Northern tail in a rush with the last five wickets going down for just five runs in the space of 38 deliveries.

The rot began when Ali Sarfraz chased a wide ball from Bilal and the attempted shot ballooned to substitute Ali Shan at point. And although the diminutive left-hander lived dangerously at times but still played with gusto to push his team past the 400-run mark.

Ali’s 81 off 119 balls included 12 boundaries and his demise broke the stand of 66 with all-rounder Hammad Azam, who was ninth man dismissed for an 80-ball 38 (four fours and one six) to the same combination.

In between those wickets, Bilal had Northern captain Nauman Ali caught by Ali Shan — one of the substitutes employed by Central Punjab after several players reported with niggles, including Azhar Ali who was off the field with chest infection.

Waqas Ahmed was smartly stumped by Kamran Akmal who also held the catch of last man Sadaf Hussain before the celebrations started in the Central Punjab camp.

The first session of the day belonged entirely to Haider as the Attock-born batted with tremendous authority belying his tender age to score a career-best 134 and just second of a brief first-class career, after restarting his innings on 50.

Haider, who will be playing in the ICC Under-19 World Cup in South Africa next month, negotiated 204 deliveries and sent the ball 22 times to the fence and once over it during his scintillating 274-miute knock.

The highpoint of Haider’s truly brilliant display was when he smashed the 40-year-old former Pakistan seamer Aizaz Cheema for two fours and a six in one over. But his departure on the stroke on lunch to a lazy shot against Bilal left Northern in a state of disappointment after first-innings’ centurion Faizan Riaz fell for 22 — offering Central Punjab captain Babar Azam a simple chance at short midwicket.

Rohail Nazir, the Pakistan Under-19 captain, scored his second half-century of the final. But compared to his classy 80 on day one, the young right-hander’s 70 were made in fortuitous circumstances. On 11, the wicket-keeper/batsman was caught at short leg by substitute Abdullah Shafiq off Bilal but it was off a no ball. And when he was on 35, Umar Akmal spilled a high-ball inside the long-off boundary that he normally poaches without much fuss. The bowler to suffer on this occasion was slow left-armer Zafar Gohar who remained wicketless in either innings.

However, Rohail’s luck finally ran out when Ehsan Adil — armed with the second new ball which was taken couple of overs before — got one to nip back sharply and trap him leg-before-wicket. The fifth-wicket partnership of 95 in 94 minutes between Rohail and Ali was largest of the second innings. But Northern needed much more than that to challenge the formidable Central Punjab.

Central Punjab earned a whooping winners’ purse of Rs10 million along with the coveted trophy. Northern settled for the runners-up trophy and Rs5 million.

The individual prizes were bagged by Zafar Gohar, adjudged player-of-the-tournament for all-round contributions of 458 runs and 38 wickets. Balochistan’s Imran Butt won the best batsman award for amassing 934 runs, while Nauman won the bowler’s prize for his championship haul of 54 wickets with best wicket-keeper going to Kamran Akmal (41 dismissals).

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) 675-8 declared (Umar Akmal 218, Azhar Ali 119, Zafar Gohar 99, Salman Butt 74, Babar Azam 69, Kamran Akmal 41; Faizan Riaz 2-62, Mohammad Musa Khan 2-115, Nauman Ali 2-183).

NORTHERN (2nd Innings, overnight 109-2):

Haider Ali b Bilal 134

Zeeshan Malik c Faheem b Bilal 38

Umar Amin c Kamran b Faheem 17

Faizan Riaz c Babar b Bilal 22

Rohail Nazir lbw b Ehsan 70

Ali Sarfraz c Faheem b Bilal 81

Hammad Azam c Faheem b Bilal 38

Nauman Ali c sub b Bilal 0

Waqas Ahmed st Kamran b Bilal 0

Mohammad Musa Khan not out 0

Sadaf Hussain c Kamran b Bilal 0

EXTRAS (B-4, NB-1) 5

TOTAL (all out, 111.3 overs) 405

FALL OF WKTS: 1-75, 2-109, 3-179, 4-241, 5-336, 6-400, 7-400, 8-404, 9-405.

BOWLING: Ehsan Adil 18-3-51-1; Aizaz Cheema 8-1-54-0; Zafar Gohar 35-2-120-0; Faheem Ashraf 18-4-59-1; Bilal Asif 31.3-1-112-8 (1nb0; Ahmed Shehzad 1-0-5-0.

RESULT: Central Punjab won by an innings and 16 runs.

UMPIRES: Ahsan Raza and Asif Yaqoob.

TV UMPIRE: Rashid Riaz.

MATCH REFEREE: Iftikhar Ahmed.

SCORERS: Syed Imran Ali and Salman Hussain Kazmi.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH (shared): Umar Akmal and Bilal Asif.

MAN-OF-THE-TOURNAMENT: Zafar Gohar.

Published in Dawn, December 31st, 2019