KP, CP hang on to frustrate Northern, SP

Published November 30, 2020
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and defending champions Central Punjab held on stubbornly to deny their respective opponents as all three fifth-round fixtures in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy ended in stalemates here on Sunday. — Photo courtesy PCB Twitter
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and defending champions Central Punjab held on stubbornly to deny their respective opponents as all three fifth-round fixtures in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy ended in stalemates here on Sunday. — Photo courtesy PCB Twitter

KARACHI: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and defending champions Central Punjab held on stubbornly to deny their respective opponents as all three fifth-round fixtures in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy ended in stalemates here on Sunday.

Northern’s aspirations of surging to the top of the six-team standings were thwarted by dogged resistance from tailender Mohammad Wasim, who hung for dear life while eating up as many as 74 minutes to help Khyber Pakhtunkhwa draw against Northern at the National Stadium.

Resuming at 55-0 in pursuit of a daunting target of 390, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa lost their way after Musadiq Ahmed (85) and the left-handed Israrullah (64) shared an opening partnership of 155.

In the end it was debutant Wasim — who was playing his maiden first-class match — to guide his side to safety with a priceless unbeaten 18 from 59 deliveries.

Northern skipper Nauman Ali delivered no less than 43 overs for his haul of 4-112.

Southern Punjab also were left frustrated by Central Punjab, who reached 164-9 after being asked to chase 259 in their derby clash at the UBL Sports Complex.

At start of play on the fourth and final day, Southern Punjab were hoping for a big lead but they had to endure an annoying last-wicket stand of 94 between captain Hasan Ali (59 not out) and Waqas Maqsood (30) after Central Punjab had restarted their first innings at 401-9 before posting 459 all out to cut Southern Punjab’s lead on the first innings to just 68 runs.

Batting again, Southern Punjab then declared their second innings at 190-5.

Leg-spinner Zahid Mahmood grabbed five for 23 runs in Central Punjab’s second turn.

Meanwhile, the game at the SBP Sports Complex between Balochistan and Sindh concluded in a listless draw.

The next round of matches begins from Wednesday.

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

First XI, fifth round:

At National Stadium, Karachi: Match drawn.

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) and 247-4 declared in 49.1 overs (Umair Masood 103 not out, Nasir Nawaz 84, Faizan Riaz 56, Mohammad Nawaz 29 not out, Sarmad Bhatti 25; Sajid Khan 2-72); KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA 318 in 76.2 overs (Khalid Usman 113 not out, Kamran Ghulam 67, Rehan Afridi 34, Mohammad Wasim 27; Munir Riaz 5-113, Nauman Ali 2-64) and 319-9 in 97 overs (Musadiq Ahmed 85, Israrullah 64, Kamran Ghulam 45, Zohaib Khan 42, Khalid Usman 33; Nauman Ali 4-112, Waqas Ahmed 2-36, Munir Riaz 2-70).

At UBL Sports Complex, Karachi: Match drawn.

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) and 190-5 declared in 40 overs (Umar Siddique 63, Saif Badar 63, Agha Salman 22; Bilal Asif 2-65); CENTRAL PUNJAB 459 in 140.4 overs (Usman Salahuddin 76, Saad Nasim 69, Ali Zaryab 67, Hasan Ali 59 not out, Ali Shan 44, Ahmed Shehzad 33, Waqas Maqsood 30, Bilal Asif 24; Zahid Mahmood 2-137, Bilawal Bhatti 3-60, Agha Salman 3-69 and 164-9 in 39 overs (Ali Shan 43, Saad Nasim 39, Ali Zaryab 34; Zahid Mahmood 5-23, Mohammad Imran 2-47).

At SBP Sports Complex, Karachi: Match drawn.

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) and 231-4 declared in 60 overs (Akbar-ur-Rehman 76, Ali Waqas 72 not out, Azeem Ghumman 44, Bismillah Khan 23); SINDH 407 in 121.2 overs (Saud Shakeel 142, Omair Bin Yousuf 109, Saad Ali 56, Sharjeel Khan 26; Jalat Khan 5-85, Mohammad Talha 2-64, Taj Wali 2-86) and 96-3 in 27 overs (Saud Shakeel 48, Asad Shafiq 22 not out, Omair Bin Yousuf 20).

Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2020

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