LAHORE: Faisalabad Region’s captain Faheem Ashraf made a resilient 147 but he couldn’t deny the inevitable as Karachi Whites registered a comprehensive 456-run victory to clinch the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy title for the fifth time here at the Gaddafi Stadium on Thursday.

Karachi’s star batter Saim Ayub was named the player-of-the-match as he scored a double century in the first innings and followed it up with a sturdy 109 to give his side the upper hand in the decider.

Shan Masood was also in the prominent run-getter as he made a sturdy 180 in the first innings and a quickfire 51 in the second.

Karachi bowlers were equally impressive as pacers Shahnawaz Dahani and Mir Hamza took 12 wickets combined while fellow pacer Ghulam Mudassar sent three Faisalabad batters to the pavilion.

Faisalabad were reeling at 129-6, chasing a massive target of 790, when the final day’s play resumed. Faheem led the charge to pull some kind of miracle along with Ali Asfand but it wasn’t meant to be. The duo build a 84-run partnership but their hopes quickly faded as Ali wasn’t able to deal with Mudassar’s short-pitched delivery handing a catch to Omair Bin Yousuf at short square leg.

Khurram Shahzad was the next to depart as he was run out following a risky single. Faheem guided the ball towards deep gully, deciding to take an unnecessary run and Mudassar’s throw went quicker than Khurram as captain Sarfraz Ahmed removed the stumps before the batter could make his ground.

Faheem continued the counter-attack and completed his century on 120 balls. Arshad Iqbal kept supporting his skipper and provided a 60-run stand before losing his wicket.

Arshad handed an easy catch backward square leg to Saim after he couldn’t deal with a quick short delivery by paceman Shahnawaz Dahani.

Mohammad Ali was the last obstacle between Karachi and the trophy and the tail-ender prolonged the celebrations a bit. Ali played a gritty unbeaten 21-run knock before his captain Faheem lost his wicket.

Faheem tried to play a shot towards leg side but miscued his shot as the ball went to the other direction and into the hands off substitute fielder Aliyan Nayyer.

The dismissal sparked celebrations for the Sarfraz-led side.

SCOREBOARD

KARACHI WHITES (1st Innings) 543

FAISALABAD REGION (1st Innings) 124

KARACHI WHITES (2nd Innings) 370-7 decl

FAISALABAD REGION (2nd Innings, overnight 129-6):

Taimoor Sultan c Sarfraz 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 c sub b Ghulam 147

Ali Asfand c Omair b Ghulam 15

Khurram Shahzad run out 4

Arshad Iqbal c Saim b Dahani 21

Mohammad Ali not out 24

EXTRAS (B-6, LB-2, NB-2) 10

TOTAL (all out, 88 overs) 333

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-20 (Hurraira), 2-62 (A. Shan), 3-67 (Taimoor), 4-68 (Irfan), 5-76 (Asif), 6-129 (A. Waqas), 7-213 (A. Asfand), 8-225 (Khurram), 9-282 (Arshad)

BOWLING: Hamza 19-3-81-1, Dahani 21-1-119-2, Ghulam 16-1-62-3 (2nb), Noman 23-3-37-1, Saim 4-1-9-0, Asad 4-1-15-1, Sarfraz 1-0-2-0

RESULT: Karachi Whites won by 456 runs.

PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Saim Ayub (Karachi Whites)

Published in Dawn, October 27th, 2023