KARACHI: Karachi Blues and PIA will be two sides who are under heavy pressure as they head into the third-round matches in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship from Saturday.

Both outfits qualified to compete in the ongoing premier first-class competition after having the qualifying events held separately earlier this year.

But their return to the top flight of domestic cricket has seen both battling for survival after just first two rounds.

Karachi Blues escaped certain defeat in the first Kookaburra pink-ball game of the tournament when they battled hard for final seven sessions of the match to compile a mammoth second-innings total of 702-7 against UBL at the National Stadium.

But they crumbled to a 46-run defeat at the same venue last Monday as Wapda chalked up their second successive win to top Pool ‘A’ with 18 points.

Karachi Blues actually ‘lost’ that game on day one when they let through no less than eight catches while allowing Wapda to get 342 that subsequently earned the departmental side a healthy first-innings advantage of 150.

And then on the final day Karachi Blues were on course for a dramatic victory but Wapda’s left-arm seamer Waqas Maqsood tore apart the lower batting with the second new ball to finish with deserving match haul of nine wickets.

Unless Karachi Blues, coached by former Test batsman Azam Khan, get their acts together, they could brace themselves for further misery against the Ahmed Shehzad-led Habib Bank Limited (HBL) at the UBL Sport Complex where the square had been re-laid during the off-season period.

Second-placed HBL head into the upcoming fixture on the back of a five-win success against Islamabad in a match best remembered for the unruly scene created by the regional team’s temperamental batsman Umar Kiyani whose highly deplorable behaviour was justifiably reported to the PCB’s disciplinary committee for punitive action.

After two draws, United Bank Limited (UBL) will be searching for a much-needed victory when they meet the never-say-die Peshawar side at the latter’s home territory. The bankers have been hard hit by call-ups both in the Pakistan and Pakistan ‘A’ squads. But they will have currently out-of-favour Test opener Shan Masood back to lead them.

Wapda will be overwhelmingly favourites to taste third straight triumph in the Kookaburra pink-ball day-night game against Islamabad at the Pindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi.

Having re-entered the first-class arena on a losing note against Karachi Whites with fast bowling Tabish Khan destroying them with 11 wickets, PIA suffered a 96-run defeat against Lahore Whites in round two. Their latest opponents are the unpredictable Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) in Sialkot.

Another setback would surely put PIA’s aspirations of retaining first-class status in serious jeopardy because from fifth round onwards they come up against the likes of defending champions Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL), National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) and Khan Research Laboratories (KRL).

Pool ‘B’ leaders SNGPL face their former employee Umar Akmal, who is leading Lahore Whites, at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, while NBP travel to Diamond Club Ground in Islamabad to play bottom-placed Rawalpindi.

Karachi Whites, meanwhile, will attempt to close gap when the fourth-placed regional outfit entertain second-placed KRL here at the National Stadium. Young opener Hamza Ghanchi struck a jackpot in the drawn tie against NBP last week when the 21-year-old left-hander converted his maiden first-class century into a monumental knock of 300 not out.

Third-round schedule (Oct 15-18):

Pool ‘A’: Karachi Blues vs HBL (UBL Sports Complex, Karachi); Lahore Blues vs SSGC (LCCA Ground, Lahore); Islamabad vs Wapda (Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi, D/N); Peshawar vs UBL (Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar).Pool ‘B’: Karachi Whites vs KRL (National Stadium, Karachi); Lahore Whites vs SNGPL (Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore); Fata vs PIA (Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot); Rawalpindi vs NBP (Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad).

Current standings

(Tabulated under: played, won, lost, drawn, points):

Pool ‘A’

Wapda 2 2 0 0 18

HBL 2 1 0 1 9

UBL 2 0 0 2 6

SSGC 2 0 0 2 3

Islamabad 2 0 1 1 3

Lahore Blues 2 0 1 1 1

Peshawar 2 0 0 2 0

Karachi Blues 2 0 1 1 0

Pool ‘B’

SNGPL 2 2 0 0 15

KRL 2 1 0 1 12

NBP 2 1 0 1 10

Karachi Whites 2 1 0 1 9

Lahore Whites 2 1 1 0 9

Fata 2 0 1 1 0

PIA 2 0 2 0 0

Rawalpindi 2 0 2 0 0

Published in Dawn, October 15th, 2016