KARACHI: Zarai Taraqiati Bank Limited (ZTBL) outclassed State Bank by an innings and 28 runs inside three days at the Diamond Club Ground in Islamabad on Friday to all but confirm their place in the Division I final of the Faysal Bank Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship.
State Bank, who resumed at 62-3 after being forced to follow on, were bundled out for 123 to give ZTBL maximum nine points in the last-round fixture. The wrecker-in-chief was former Pakistan paceman Rao Iftikhar who captured six for 37 in 16.5 overs with Junaid Zia bagging 2-24 in support.
ZTBL’s win put them into second place in the standings with the same number of points (57) as PIA who suffered a surprise 243-run defeat against the ousted champions Habib Bank at Lahore’s LCCA Ground. Wapda, the only other team in contention for the Dec 20-24 day/night final in Karachi, faced a daunting task of beating National Bank who earned a vital 88-run lead on the first innings at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.
Fahad Masood, the burly medium-pacer was chiefly responsible for the PIA debacle with excellent all-round performance. He contributed 44 and 48 with the bat as well as grabbing match figures of 10-84, including a brilliant spell of 6-28 in 11 overs as PIA were shot out for a paltry 62 after being set a target of 306.
Earlier, Habib Bank captain Hasan Raza made a belated return to form with an unbeaten 141 (230 balls, 18 boundaries) to guide his team to a second-innings total of 361, while adding 115 for the seventh-wicket with Fahad Masood.
National Bank’s discarded Pakistan opener Khurram Manzoor scored 101 as the bankers reached 215-6 in their second innings to hold a decisive overall of 303 ahead of the last day’s play on Saturday.
Wapda, earlier, failed to overhaul National Bank’s first-innings tally of 358 as they were all out for 270 with all-rounder Qaiser Abbas taking 4-54 with slow left-armers and Test left-arm paceman Wahab Riaz claiming 3-69.
National Bank need a victory to avoid being relegated next season. In case of the match being drawn, they would end up with 35 points. Habib Bank’s win against PIA earned them six points while taking their number of points to 35. If National Bank are beaten, then Habib Bank would be safe.
Abbottabad, meanwhile, finished their campaign on a winning note as they overwhelmed Rawalpindi by six wickets at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium. The result confirms bottom-placed Faisalabad would be playing in Division II if the Pakistan Cricket Board retains the current format for next season as well.
Islamabad were on verge of victory after Karachi Blues found themselves struggling at 129-4 in their second innings at the National Stadium. The visitors earlier obtained a handy first-innings lead of 134 by totalling 398.
Sialkot also closed in on a big win despite not enforcing the follow on against Faisalabad at the Jinnah Stadium in Sialkot. The hapless visitors reached 47-2 in pursuit of a massive 427 run chase.
Earlier, Ayub Dogar made 84 to follow his 118 in the first innings as the hosts declared their second innings at 147-7.
Close of play scores and results on Friday (day three of four):At National Stadium, Karachi: KARACHI BLUES 264 in 88.3 overs (Ahmed Iqbal 74, Mohammad Bilal 42, Mohammad Sami 37, Javed Mansoor 32, Sohail Khan 20; Nasrullah Khan 4-66, Shahzad Azam 2-39, Naqqash Basharat 2-53) and 129-4 in 50 overs (Hafiz Asad Baig 50, Faraz Patel 28 not out, Shahzaib Hasan 26; Imad Wasim 2-32); ISLAMABAD 398 in 105.1 overs (Afaq Raheem 94, Zohaib Ahmed 66, Imad Wasim 60, Raja Kashif 51, Mohammad Ijaz 45, Ali Sarfraz 24, Rashid Amin 20; Azam Hussain 5-85, Mohammad Sami 3-79, Tanvir Ahmed 2-77).
At Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore: NATIONAL BANK 358 in 75.4 overs (Qaiser Abbas 103, Wahab Riaz 84, Fawad Alam 65, Aqeel Anjum 29, Hammad Azam 24; M. Imran Khan 5-126, Azhar Attari 2-64, Zulfiqar Babar 2-73) and 215-6 in 40 overs (Khurram Manzoor 101, Fawad Alam 40; Ali Azmat 2-12, Imranullah 2-32); WAPDA 270 in 84.2 overs (Riffatullah Mohmand 94, Aamir Sajjad 49, Ali Azmat 34, Ahmed Said 26, Bilal Khilji 22; Qaiser Abbas 4-54, Wahab Riaz 3-69, Raza Hasan 2-69).
At LCCA Ground, Lahore: Habib Bank beat PIA beat by 243 runs.
HABIB BANK 128 in 37.2 overs (Fahad Masood 44, Danish Kaneria 20; Ali Imran Pasha 6-45, Kamran Sajid 3-12) and 361 in 99.5 overs (Hasan Raza 141 not out, Ahmed Shahzad 81, Fahad Masood 48, Shan Masood 34, Humayun Farhat 24; Akhtar Waheed 6-107); PIA 184 in 48.4 overs (Kamran Sajid 41, Faisal Iqbal 35, Sarfraz Ahmed 32, Ali Imran Pasha 21; Fahad Masood 4-56, Sarmad Anwar 3-60, Danish Kaneria 3-53) and 62 in 26 overs (Fahad Masood 6-28, Sarmad Anwar 2-15, Aslam Qureshi 2-17).
At Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot: SIALKOT 452 in 117.4 overs (M. Ayub Dogar 118, Shahzad Malik 74, Mansoor Amjad 72, Mohammad Yasin 53, Prince Abbas 41 not out; Abdur Rauf 4-86, Waqas Maqsood 4-124, Shoaib Shah 2-149) and 147-7 declared in 45.3 overs (M. Ayub Dogar 84, Nasir Iqbal 22 not out; Shoaib Shah 3-28, Naseer Akram 2-38); FAISALABAD 173 in 51.1 overs (Naved Latif 47, Mohammad Salman 44, Shoaib Shah 31; Mohammad Imran 6-73, Prince Abbas 2-44) and 47-2 in 13 overs (Farrukh Shahzad 22; Mohammad Imran 2-19).
At Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad: ZTBL beat State Bank by an innings and 28 runs.
ZTBL 263 in 84.3 overs (Haris Sohail 106, Sohail Tanvir 68, Shahid Yousuf 28; Mohammad Ali Boota 7-59, Nazar Hussain 2-45); STATE BANK 112 in 32.4 overs (Mohtashim Ali 44, Rameez Raja 23; Junaid Zia 5-31, Sohail Tanvir 4-38) and 123 in 46.5 overs (Mohtashim Ali 51’ Rao Iftikhar 6-37, Junaid Zia 2-24).
At Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi: Abbottabad beat Rawalpindi by six wickets.
RAWALPINDI 215 in 54.2 overs (Jamal Anwar 43, Akhtar Ahmed 43, Usman Saeed 37; Ahmed Jamal 4-57, Ikramullah Khan 2-51, Wajid Ali 2-28) and 251 in 58.3 overs (Yasim Murtaza 57, Jamal Anwar 51, Babar Naeem 37, Usman Saeed 36; Ahmed Jamal 4-93, Khalid Usman 2-24); ABBOTTABAD 309 in 63.4 overs (Mir Azam 133, Wajid Ali 49, Hammad Ali Shah 43 not out, Khalid Usman 22; Ahsan Khan 7-119, Yasim Murtaza 3-42) and 158-4 in 22.5 overs (Raja Nadeem 83 not out, Wajid Ali 48; Sadaf Hussain 2-61).