KARACHI: A day after the rain-enforced washout, wickets tumbled at the National Stadium as holders Khyber Pakhtunkhwa gained the upper hand in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy final against Northern.

Pakistan’s T20 all-rounder Mohammad Wasim Jr and Test spinner Sajid Khan ended up with four wickets each as the defending champions dismissed Northern for 256 on Tuesday, crucially gaining a first-innings lead of 118 runs which would see them crowned champions again if the match ends in a draw.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa increased their lead to 270 after they reached 152-5 in their second innings at stumps on the fourth day.

A heavy winter downpour had seen no play in the day/night pink-ball final on Monday and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, who shared the trophy with Central Punjab after last season’s final ended in a thrilling draw, had Northern on the ropes early on.

Resuming on 184-3, Northern could only add another 72 runs before they folded with Wasim ripping through their middle and low order.

Sarmad Bhatti was the first to go but not before he completed his half-century as he edged an outswinger from Sameen Gul to substitute wicket-keeper Mohammad Haris. Sarmad hit three fours in his 57.

The other batter continuing from Sunday, Farhan Riaz (30), soon followed — this time Wasim’s pace and bounce forcing an edge to the keeper.

In the same over, Wasim made it 241-6 after Mubashir Khan’s gloved his pull shot and found Fakhar Zaman at leg gully to leave for a duck.

Wasim struck again in his next over. An attempted drive by Rohail Nazir (4) only got a thick outside edge on its way to a diving Kamran Ghulam at first slip before Northern’s last three wickets fell without the addition of a run.

First Sajid, who’d dismissed both Northern openers Mohammad Huraira (51) and Haider Ali (81) on Sunday, trapped tailender Waqas Ahmed lbw for a duck before Wasim (4-65) ended the resistance of Mohammad Nawaz (20) with a short ball that his fellow Pakistan T20 all-rounder couldn’t get away and gave a simple catch at square leg.

Sajid (4-54) finished the Northern innings by dismissing Mohammad Musa.

Knowing their only chance of winning the title now rested on dismissing Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for a low score and chasing it down, Northern gave themselves a good chance when they reduced their opponents to 69-4 before Rehan Afridi (42 not out) and Iftikhar Ahmed (24 not out) steadied the holders’ second innings.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa captain Ashfaq Ahmed (8) was the first to depart when Kashif Ali induced an edge that flew to Faizan at third slip.

Sahibzada Farhan had made 11 in a 45-run partnership with Fakhar (50) for the second wicket before Musa had him caught behind.

Kamran Ghulam was yet to get off the mark when Nawaz rattled his stumps before Fakhar, who had hit nine fours and a six in his 53-ball knock, edged an angling delivery by Musa onto his stumps.

Iftikhar and Asif Afridi (15) then combined for 34 runs before the latter was lbw by Mubasir.

It meant Iftikhar had to play the anchor role as Rehan took charge in an attempt to increase the scoring rate.

While Iftikhar had faced 106 deliveries for his runs at stumps, Rehan has cracked four boundaries and a six in the 61 balls he’s faced so far.

All that has set the stage for an intriguing final day.

Published in Dawn, December 29th, 2021