KARACHI, Nov 16: Islamabad regained their top spot in Group ‘B’ of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship when they trounced Karachi Blues by nine wickets on the fourth and final day of the match at the Diamond Club Ground in Islamabad on Friday.

Resuming at 87-1 in pursuit of a modest target, Islamabad needed just 12 overs to knock of the remaining runs without further loss with Umair Khan (68) and Farrukh Hayat (51) extending their unbroken stand to 140.

After their fourth win in five outings, Islamabad lead their group with 36 points, nine ahead of PIA and SNGPL.

It was a bad day for Karachi teams as the Whites suffered an eight-wicket defeat against National Bank here at the NBP Sports Complex. National Bank’s fourth victory in five matches lifted them to second place behind Habib Bank, although both teams have 36 points with the latter having won all four games they have played so far in the ongoing championship.

PIA, meanwhile, lost three points after their game against Rawalpindi petered out in a tame draw at the KRL Stadium in Rawalpindi. The hosts, who took a lead of 43 runs on the first innings, batted throughout the last to take their overnight total of 152-2 to 336-8.

The highlights of this fixture were the performances of promising Pakistan Under-19 batsman Umar Amin, who made 89 and 56 on his first-class debut.

After conceding the first-innings lead, KRL fought back to overpower Quetta by five wickets at the Bugti Stadium in Quetta, while Multan survived some anxious moments before pulling off a three-wicket win over SSGC at the Multan Cricket Stadium.

SSGC’s paceman Shakeel-ur-Rehman, however, was the outstanding performer with a brace of five wickets, including 5-64 in the second innings.

Scores on Friday (final day of four):

At NBP Sports Complex, Karachi: National Bank beat Karachi Whites by eight wickets.

KARACHI WHITES 288 in 105.1 overs (Afsar Nawaz 68, Asad Shafiq 51, Javed Mansoor 46; Wahab Riaz 4-58, Uzair-ul-Haq 3-41) and 202 in 59.4 overs (Daniyal Ahsan 63; Wasim Khan 5-64, Irfanuddin 3-39); NATIONAL BANK 412 in 118.5 overs (Nasir Jamshed 127, Naumanullah 66, Mansoor Amjad 47, Shahid Yousuf 46; Misbah Khan 4-51, Tanvir Ahmed 4-121) and 79-2 in 17.3 overs (Nasir Jamshed 40 not out).

At Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad: Islamabad beat Karachi Blues by nine wickets.

ISLAMABAD 302 in 85.2 overs (Raheel Majeed 75, Umair Khan 45, Ameer Ali 41; Tariq Haroon 4-111, Azam Hussain 3-33) and 149-1 in 34 overs (Umair Khan 68 not out, Farrukh Hayat 51 not out); KARACHI BLUES 75 in 25.3 overs (Rauf Akbar 5-35, Shahzad Azam 5-36) and 372 in 78 overs (Tariq Haroon 142 not out, Shadab Kabir 95; Rauf Akbar 4-107, Shahzad Azam 3-128).

At KRL Stadium, Rawalpindi: Match drawn.

RAWALPINDI 225 in 76.4 overs (Umar Amin 89; Aizaz bin Ilyas 4-44) and 336-8 in 131 overs (Babar Naeem 59, Umar Amin 56, Usman Saeed 50, Mohammad Ibrahim 43, Sajid Mahmood 40); PIA 182 in 78.4 overs (Rizwan Akbar 5-52).

At Multan Cricket Stadium: Multan beat SSGC by three wickets.

SSGC 299 in 107.4 overs (Shahzad Butt 77 not out, Mohtashim Ali 59; Abdul Rauf 3-74, Mohammad Tanvir 3-74) and 152 in 56 overs (Mohtashim Ali 52; Abdul Rauf 5-66, Mohammad Kashif Rana 3-46); MULTAN 336 in 92.5 overs (Gulraiz Sadaf 70, Usman Tariq 63, Naved Yasin 59; Shakeel-ur-Rehman 5-98, Sohail Khan 4-108) and 118-7 in 35.5 overs (Shakeel-ur-Rehman 5-64).

At Bugti Stadium, Quetta: KRL beat Quetta by five wickets.

QUETTA 351 in 98.3 overs (Naseem Khan 108, Shoaib Khan 98; Saeed Ajmal 4-115) and 134 in 38.4 overs (Taimur Ali 42; Mohammad Irshad 5-44); KRL 342 in 93.4 overs (Ali Naqvi 110, Mohammad Irshad 54; Jalat Khan 5-101, Faisal Irfan 4-40) and 143-5 in 31.2 overs (Azhar Ali 50).