KARACHI: Pacer Athar Mehmood’s splendid figures of 6-40 led Northern to a dominating nine-wicket win over Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on the third day of the fifth-round encounter of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy at the Abbottabad Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

The win, Northern’s third in Pakistan’s premier domestic tournament, consolidated their position on top of the six-team points table.

After Northern scored 249 in reply of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s 175 on Saturday, the latter began the day trailing by 56 with nine wickets in hand.

But a brilliant display of fast bowling from Athar saw Khyber Pakhtunkhwa get bundled for just 121.

The right-armer accounted for Sajid Khan, Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Sarwar Afridi, Imran Khan Sr and Ihsanullah — after he had sent back Waqar Ahmed in the closing moments of the second day — to record his maiden five-wicket haul before Northern chased down the 48-run target with ease.

At Rawalpindi’s Pindi Cricket Stadium, Sindh captain Saud Shakeel converted his overnight 30 into his third century of the season. The left-hander was unbeaten at 187, having smashed 20 fours as Sindh scored 390.

The innings handed Sindh a 121-run lead over Balochistan, who find themselves in a precarious situation after losing three wickets for just 56 runs in 22 overs.

In Multan, Southern Punjab were stuttering at 80-2 in their pursuit of 377 against Central Punjab.

Usman Salahuddin and Sharoon Siraj were batting at 20 and 12 respectively after the opening pair of Umar Siddiq (36) and Zain Abbas (11) was dismissed by Faheem Ashraf and Mohammad Ali.

Earlier, centuries from Abdullah Shafique and Azhar Ali saw Central Punjab post 274-3. Abdullah smashed 15 fours in his unbeaten 168-ball 114 and Azhar struck 12 fours and a six in his 126-ball 108.

Summarised scores:

Northern beat Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by nine wickets

KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA 175 in 38.5 overs (Waqar Ahmed 35, Sajid Khan 27; Aamir Jamal 5-38, Athar Mehmood 3-95) and 121 in 37 overs (Rehan Afridi 29, Sajid Khan 21; Athar Mehmood 6-40)

NORTHERN 249 in 61.2 overs (Sarmad Bhatti 114, Faizan Riaz 22; Ihsanullah 5-70, Imran Khan Sr. 3-70) and 48-1 in 20.1 overs (Mohammad Huraira 23, Abdul Faseeh 21 not out)

Balochistan trail by 65 runs against Sindh

BALOCHISTAN 269 in 90.5 overs (Haseebullah 67, Imran Butt 60; Ghulam Mudassar 5-73, Abrar Ahmed 3-93) and 56-3 in 22 overs (Imran Butt 24); SINDH 390 in 123 overs (Saud Shakeel 187 not out, Fawad Alam 51; Asad Shafiq 2-37, Kashif Bhatti 2-48)

Southern Punjab trail by 296 runs

CENTRAL PUNJAB 302 in 92.5 overs (Faheem Ashraf 87, Azhar Ali 61; Sameen Gul 4-67) and 274-3 in 57 overs (Abdullah Shafique 114 not out, Azhar Ali 108); SOUTHERN PUNJAB 200 in 50 overs (Mohammad Imran 71, Zain Abbas 46; Mohammad Ali 6-59, Faheem Ashraf 2-37) and 80-2 in 27 overs (Umar Siddiq 36, Usman Salahuddin 20 not out).

Published in Dawn, October 24th, 2022