LAHORE: Karachi Whites have one hand on the crown as they maintained their supremacy across four days of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy final against Faisalabad Region, whose batting crumbled again here at the Gaddafi Stadium on Wednesday.

Tottering at 129 for six, Faisalabad on the final day on Thursday have to do the impossible to deny their counterparts victory as they need 661 runs more.

Faisalabad skipper Faheem Ashraf (15) was at the crease along with Ali Asfand, who faced only one ball before the stumps were drawn. They will be up against Karachi Whites’ in-form pace duo of Shahnawaz Dahani and Mir Hamza, who have 11 wickets between them in the decider so far, under the experienced leadership of former Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed.

After resuming the innings at 238-5, Sarfraz (73) and Asad Shafiq (113) extended their overnight stand to 131.

Right-handed Asad brought up his century, third of this season and 31st overall, in the 88th over off 201 balls with a boundary. Sarfraz was also on his way to century but got run out in a bizarre fashion.

After playing a shot towards mid-off for a single, Sarfraz lethargically strolled towards the non-striker’s end as Asif Ali directly hit the stumps to dismiss Kara­chi’s captain who was left well short of the crease.

Three overs later, Asad was caught behind down the leg side by Ali Shan off the bowling of pacer Khurram Shahzad. At 370 for seven Karachi Whites declared their innings.

Chasing a mammoth 790, Faisalabad’s opener Mohammad Hurraira (five) again failed to deliver as he was was trapped lbw by pacer Dahani on a sharp in-swinging delivery.

Taimoor Sultan and Ali Shan then stitched up a 42-run partnership before the latter was run out following a mix-up. Taimoor played a shot towards point and Ali rushed for a risky run but Asad’s throw travelled like a bullet as wicket-keeper Ghazi Gouri removed the stumps before the batter made his ground.

Four overs later, Taimoor went back to the pavilion as he skied Nouman Ali to widish mid-on where Sarfraz took a brilliant running catch. Irfan Khan was the next to follow after he edged Hamza towards third slip and Ghulam Mudassar took a fine diving catch.

Karachi bowlers were on a roll as they didn’t let Faislabad’s batters to settle and Asif Ali was the next to depart after scoring only three runs. He was caught plumb on the back foot off Hamza.

Skipper Faheem and Ali Waqas (48) then stabilised the innings, adding 53 runs, and it seemed that the two might see off the day. But an unusual decision to bowl Asad paid dividends as he took the wicket of Waqas on the penultimate ball of the day.

Scoreboard

KARACHI WHITES (1st Inning) 543

FAISALABAD REGION (1st Innings) 124

KARACHI WHITES (2nd Innings, overnight 238-5):

Khurram Manzoor b Khurram 0

Saim Ayub c A. Asfand b Faheem 109

Shan Masood run out 51

Omair Bin Yousuf c A. Shan b M. Ali 0

Asad Shafiq c A. Shan b Khurram 113

Ghazi Ghouri c Irfan b Arshad 8

Sarfraz Ahmed run out 73

Noman Ali not out 5

EXTRAS (LB-10, W-1) 11

TOTAL (for seven wickets, 98.1 overs) 370

DID NOT BAT: Shahnawaz Dahani, Ghulam Mudassar, Mir Hamza

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-0 (Khurram), 2-78 (Shan), 3-86 (Omair), 4-207 (Saim), 5-233 (Ghazi), 6-363 (Sarfraz), 7-370 (Asad)

BOWLING: Khurram 17.1-3-49-2, Faheem 9-0-58-1, M. Ali 21-6-69-1, Arshad 16-2-41-1, A. Asfand 27-1-105-0, Irfan 8-0-38-0 (1w)

FAISALABAD REGION (2nd Innings):

Taimoor Sultan c Sarfaraz b Noman 31

Muhammad Hurraira lbw b Dahani 5

Ali Shan run out 24

Ali Waqas c Ghulam b Asad 48

Irfan Khan c Asad b Ghulam 1

Asif Ali lbw b Hamza 3

Faheem Ashraf not out 15

Ali Asfand not out 0

EXTRAS (B-2) 2

TOTAL (for six wickets, 41.3 overs) 129

STILL TO BAT: Arshad Iqbal, Mohammad Ali, Khurram Shahzad

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-20 (Hurraira), 2-62 (A. Shan), 3-67 (Taimoor), 4-68 (Irfan), 5-76 (Asif), 6-129 (A. Waqas)

BOWLING: Hamza 9-2-31-1, Dahani 7-0-31-1, Ghulam 9-1-38-1, Noman 12-2-15-1, Saim 1-0-1-0, Asad 2.3-0-9-1, Sarfraz 1-0-2-0

Published in Dawn, October 26th, 2023