LAHORE: Sialkot faced a mountainous task of scoring 520 more runs for victory after reaching 12 without loss in four overs at stumps on the penultimate day of the final against Karachi Blues at the Gaddafi Stadium on Thursday.

Openers Azan Awais and Mohammad Hurraira negotiated a testing late-evening spell from Saqib Khan and Moh­ammad Umar, surviving 24 deliveries to take the game into the last day with all wickets intact.

Earlier, Karachi Blues exte­nded their overnight 202-1 to a formidable 458 all out in 133.4 overs, piling further pressure on Sialkot, who were kept in the field for almost two days.

Leg-spinner and captain Usama Mir led from the front, returning 5-98 in 28.4 overs — his fifth five-wicket haul in first-class cricket. Fast bowler Mohammad Hasnain bowled tirelessly for figures of 3-91 from 34 overs, while off-spinner Hamza Nazar and Hasan Ali picked up a wicket apiece.

Hasnain provided the early breakthrough Sialkot badly needed, uprooting overnight centurion Abdullah Fazal for 114 off 219 balls (13 fours), ending a 170-run partnership that had consumed 349 deliveries. Shan Masood then joined Haroon Arshad to build further on Karachi’s dominance, adding 84 for the third wicket.

Shan, who crossed 13,000 first-class runs during the innings, struck a fluent 76 off 107 balls with nine boundaries, registering his 59th fifty in the longer format.

Haroon carried on to complete a composed second first-class hundred, scoring 116 off 236 balls with nine fours before Hamza found the gap between bat and pad to rattle his stumps in the 92nd over.

Usama triggered a middle-order slide soon after, removing Saud Shakeel to spark a collapse in which Karachi lost seven wickets for 131 runs. Usman Khan, however, kept the scoreboard moving with an aggressive 47 off 57 balls, hitting four fours and three sixes while adding 78 valuable runs with Shan.

Rameez Aziz contributed 30 before becoming the final wicket to fall, ending a stretch of small but crucial partnerships with the lower order.

Scores in brief:

KARACHI BLUES 340 in 81.2 overs (Abdullah Fazal 88, Usman Khan 82; Mohammad Ali 4-79, Mohammad Hasnain 2-70) and 458 in 133.4 overs (Haroon Arshad 116, Abdullah Fazal 114; Usama Mir 5-98, Mohammad Hasnain 3-91); SIALKOT 266 in 71.5 overs (Mohsin Riaz 71, Hamza Nazar 64; Saqib Khan 4-79, Mohammad Umar 4-79) and 12-0 in four overs.

Published in Dawn, December 5th, 2025