KARACHI: Abubakar Khan was the toast of Faisalabad on Saturday when his century inspired the side to clinch the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy Grade-II Cricket Tournament trophy after the rain-ravaged four-day final against Karachi Blues culminated in a predictable draw in Faisalabad.

Replying to Karachi’s first innings tally of 227 at the Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad were in serious trouble by stumps on Friday’s penultimate day at 52-4. But Abubakar engineered a great revival with a knock of 113 as Faisalabad made a tremendous comeback to post 338 — a lead of 111 runs on the first innings — all out in 81.3 overs.

With the second day completely washed out on Thursday after Karachi Blues, who were put into bat by Misbah-ul-Haq, had limped to 194-7 on the opening day, an outright result was out of question.

After taking the remaining three wickets on a truncated day’s play on Friday with left-am paceman Waqas Maqsood picking up a brace to finish with five wickets for 71 runs in 17.3 overs, Faisalabad’s reply got off to a stuttering beginning.

Guest player Ahmed Shehzad (1) and Misbah (six-ball duck) were among the casualties late on Friday.

Abubakar, who batted for 271 minutes and struck 19 boundaries during his 174-ball innings, and Atiq-ur-Rehman (67 off 132 balls in 219 minutes with nine fours and one six)) then joined hands to put up a superb rearguard action as the two put on 182 for the fifth wicket.

After they were both gone, wicket-keeper Ali Shan (51 off 67 balls, seven boundaries) and Waqas (55 off 45 balls, six fours and two sixes) further demoralised the visitors with handy contributions.

Slow left-armer Mohammad Asghar snared three wickets for 86 runs in 12.3 overs, while left-arm paceman Ghulam Mudassar (2-59 in 13 overs), pace-bowling all-rounder Hasan Mohsin (2-30 in 11) and off-spinner Ashiq Ali (2-67 in 13) shared six wickets among them.

Left with a tricky period at the fag end of the match, Karachi Blues lost four wickets in making 28 runs in their second innings.

Scoreboard

KARACHI BLUES (1st Innings):

Ali Asad c Abubakar b Waqas 10

Hasan Mohsin c Abubakar b Ehsan 37

Saud Shakeel c Khurram Sr b Ehsan 83

Asad Shafiq lbw b Ehsan 0

Fawad Alam c Ali Shan b Waqas 2

Ramiz Aziz c Ali Shan b Waqas 14

Akbar-ur-Rehman b Ehsan 27

Ashiq Ali b Waqas 0

Tabish Khan c and b Khurram Jr 7

Mohammad Asghar not out 13

Ghulam Mudassar c Ali b Waqas 13

EXTRAS (B-6, LB-4, W-8, NB-3) 21

TOTAL (all out, 56.3 overs) 227

FALL OF WKTS: 1-13, 2-97, 3-97, 4-104, 5-136, 6-191, 7-192, 8-196, 9-203.

BOWLING: Waqas Maqsood 17.3-3-71-5 (1w); Asad Ali 10-3-29-0 (2nb); Ehsan Adil 18-3-60-4; Khurram Shehzad Jr 11-0-57-1 (1nb, 7w).

FAISALABAD (1st Innings, overnight 52-4):

Shahid Siddique c Ali Asad b Hasan 8

Ahmed Shehzad b Mudassar 1

Khurram Shehzad Sr c Ramiz b Tabish 4

Abubakar Khan c Ramiz b Mudassar 113

Misbah-ul-Haq c Ramiz b Hasan 0

Atiq-ur-Rehman c Ali Asad b Ashiq 67

Ali Shan c Hasan b Asghar 51

Ehsan Adil st Ali Asad b Asghar 12

Waqas Maqsood lbw b Asghar 55

Asad Ali st Ali Asad b Ashiq 0

Khurram Shehzad Jr not out 0

EXTRAS (B-4, LB-14, W-7, NB-2) 27

TOTAL (all out, 81.3 overs) 338

FALL OF WKTS: 1-2, 2-7, 3-29, 3-29, 5-211, 6-227, 7-241 (details of remaining wickets not provided).

BOWLING: Tabish Khan 22-5-78-1 (1w); Ghulam Mudassar 13-1-59-2 (1nb, 5w); Hasan Mohsin 11-3-30-2 (1w); Mohammad Asghar 12.3-4-86-3; Ashiq Ali 13-3-67-2 (1nb).

KARACHI BLUES (2nd Innings):

Ramiz Aziz c Shahid b Waqas 6

Saud Shakeel c Khurram Sr b Abubakar 16

Mohammad Asghar c Ahmed b Abubakar 4

Hasan Mohsin not out 2

Tabish Khan c Ahmed b Khurram Sr 0

Ali Asad not out 0

EXTRAS 0

TOTAL (for four wkts, 13 overs) 28

FALL OF WKTS: 1-12, 2-25, 3-26, 4-27.

BOWLING: Waqas Maqsood 2-0-11-1; Asad Ali 1-0-6-0; Khurram Shehzad Jr 5-2-6-1; Abubakar Khan 5-2-5-2.

RESULT: Match drawn.

UMPIRES: Ghaffar Kazmi and Qaiser Waheed.

MATCH REFEREE: Bilal Khilji.

Published in Dawn, February 10th, 2019