KARACHI: Batsmen generally dominated play on the second day of the fifth-round action in Quaid-e-Azam Trophy here on Friday but Khyber Pakhtunkhwa braced themselves for a long struggle against Northern at the National Stadium.

Sindh made a befitting response to Balochistan with a strong show and defending champions Central Punjab also put up their best performance in the their derby clash with current leaders Southern Punjab.

After Northern applied closure to their first innings at 460-9 — while adding 89 runs to their Thursday’s total of 371-5 — the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa batsmen had a torrid time against the debutant paceman Munir Riaz as the 19-year-old from Rawalpindi grabbed five wickets for 91 runs.

By stumps Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had partial recovery to reach 249-7 after Munir had dismissed Musadiq Ahmed (19), Israrullah (19), Adil Amin (11) and Zohaib Khan (0) with just 83 runs on the board. However, Kamran Ghulam (67) and Rehan Afridi (34) made a spirited comeback by adding 58.

Late in the day skipper Khalid Usman (59) and first-class debutant Mohammad Wasim (20) held up Northern’s charge for more wickets as the dup put on 50 without being separated.

Earlier in the morning, Faizan Riaz got out for 146 (189 balls, 15 fours and two sixes) after resuming at his overnight score of 124. Paceman Arshad Iqbal and Zohaib claimed three wickets each.

Balochistan lost ground at the SBP Sports Complex despite Ayaz Tasawwar completing his only his third first-class century. The 28-year-old, who began the day on 67 in a team tally of 333-3, returned undefeated with 138 (244 balls, 13 fours and two sixes) after Akbar-ur-Rehman added just nine more runs to Thursday’s score of 155 as Balochistan declared at 458-9. Paceman Shahnawaz Dhani captured 4-79 in 21 overs

Sindh, in their reply, lost Sharjeel Khan for 26 but Omair Bin Yousuf (74) and Saud Shakeel (67) then came together to share an unbroken stand of 131 as Sindh collected 175-1 by close of play.

Ali Zaryab (67) and Pakistan discard Ahmed Shehzad (33) added 92 for the opening wicket before Central Punjab made 136-2 at draw of stumps.

Southern Punjab had earlier extended their overnight score from 272-5 at the UBL Sports Complex to a mammoth 527-7 declared with both Agha Salman and fellow all-rounder Mohammad Imran scoring centuries. Salman, who turned 27 on Monday, hit up a career-best 169 on way to his seventh ton in first-class cricket. His 183-ball knock was adorned with 21 boundaries and three sixes.

The sixth-wicket partnership between Salman and the 23-year-old Imran, who had previously registered a solitary 50-plus score at the first-class level from 18 games — yielded 187 runs before the former was run out. Imran struck an unbeaten 100 off 143 balls with 11 hits to the fence.

Close of play scores on Friday (day two of four):

First XI, fifth round:

At National Stadium, Karachi: NORTHERN 460-9 declared in 102.2 overs (Faizan Riaz 146, Mohammad Nawaz 121, Nasir Nawaz 68, Asif Ali 52 not out, Sarmad Bhatti 24; Zohaib Khan 3-46, Arshad Iqbal 3-75, Sajid Khan 2-112); KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA 249-7 in 58 overs (Kamran Ghulam 67, Khalid Usman 59 not out, Rehan Afridi 34, Mohammad Wasim 20 not out).

At UBL Sports Complex, Karachi: SOUTHERN PUNJAB 527-7 declared in 134 overs (Agha Salman 169, Mohammad Imran 100 not out, Umar Siddique 94, Zain Abbas 69, Bilawal Bhatti 37, Saif Badar 22; Hasan Ali 2-79, Waqas Maqsood 2-88, Ahmed Safi Abdullah 2-118); CENTRAL PUNJAB 136-2 in 41 overs (Ali Zaryab 67, Ahmed Shehzad 33).

At SBP Sports Complex, Karachi: BALOCHISTAN 458-9 declared in 115.5 overs (Akbar-ur-Rehman 164, Ayaz Tasawwar 138 not out, Ali Waqas 46, Imran Farhat 33, Kashif Bhatti 23, Azeem Ghumman 22; Shahnawaz Dhani 4-79, Abrar Ahmed 3-123); SINDH 175-1 in 51 overs (Omair Bin Yousuf 74 not out, Saud Shakeel 67 not out, Sharjeel Khan 26).

Published in Dawn, November 28th, 2020