KARACHI: It was only the second over and defending champions Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were reeling in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy final.

Northern pacer Waqas Ahmed was getting early afternoon swing at the National Stadium on Saturday and uprooted Fakhar Zaman’s off-stump with a delivery that swung back into the left-hander.

The very next ball, Sahibzada Farhan was trapped lbw with a delivery that swung late and Waqas was on a hat-trick with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at 6-2.

Kamran Ghulam prevented him from getting a hat-trick before becoming the pivot for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s recovery.

His obdurate 72 off 196 deliveries was key as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reached 252-5 at stumps on the opening day of the pink-ball day/night final on Saturday.

Iftikhar Ahmed got more runs than Kamran, and made 102 but it was the latter who frustrated the Northern bowlers with his mean defence and kept one end intact.

After the early blows, Kamran combined with his captain Ashfaq Ahmed (45) in a 79-run partnership which was broken when Mohammad Huraira took scooped a catch at the second attempt at short fine leg off Mubasir Khan.

Ashfaq hit five fours during his innings and after he departed, Kamran and Iftikhar added 104 runs with the former blocking out the Northern bowlers.

Kamran hit 11 fours, only getting out when he tried to hit Mohammad Nawaz out of the park. He came down the wicket to the Pakistan spin all-rounder and completely missed the ball to be stumped by Rohail Nazir.

Iftikhar, on the other hand, was getting runs more quickly and completed his century off 168 deliveries with his 13th boundary, driving Kashif Ali between mid-off and extra cover.

He was gone soon after when Waqas had him bowled between bat and pad.

At the close of play, Rehan Afridi was at 23 not out, sharing a 60-run partnership with Iftikhar, while Asif Afridi was unbeaten on three with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, who shared the title with Central Punjab after last year’s final ended in a draw, looking well-placed to retain the title.

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2021