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Central Punjab’s late resurgence leaves KP jittery

KARACHI: Central Punjab staged a dramatic comeback after Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were seemingly on course to dominate the opening day of their five-day Quaid-e-Azam Trophy final here at the National Stadium on Friday.

Central Punjab needed inspiration of their young captain Hasan Ali to nullify the advantage Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had taken when the in-form Kamran Ghulam and Adil Amin were stitching together a substantial partnership on either side of the 60-minute break for lunch and Jumma prayers.

From a commanding 227-3 roughly an hour before stumps were pulled out for the day, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa suddenly found themselves in strife at a nervy tally of 285-7 with their trusted duo of Kamran and Adil both perishing in the 70s.

Until that point of capitulation, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were hotly backed to build on the Kamran-Adil partnership that was terminated after 132 runs were added by the pair from 249 deliveries in 165 minutes. Central Punjab were relentless thereafter, losing three more wickets in the space of 47 balls with the arrival of the second new ball.

The extended three-hour first session — a customary occurrence in this country during a domestic first-class game on Fridays — was a battle of attrition, which was eventually won by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, who unsurprisingly maintained their positive intent which had been the hallmark of their display this season.

On a pitch offering decent pace and bounce, it was a brave call from Khalid Usman to bat first. He was vindicated when his batsmen prospered to 166-3 in 41 overs, while setting up an ideal platform for an imposing first-innings score with a slice of luck also coming to their aid.

Undeterred by the rather premature exit of Fakhar Zaman and Rehan Afridi before they joined in the pavilion by a well-set Israrullah, inside the opening 22 overs of exhilarating cricket. The proclamation of Pakistan Navy’s honorary lieutenant failed to inspire Fakhar and having scored 17, the Pakistan left-hander was acrobatically held one-handed down the leg-side off an inside edge by the impressive wicket-keeper Ali Shan off a fit-again Waqas Maqsood.

Encouraged by the dismissal of Fakhar, Waqas then produced peach of a delivery to clip the bails of incoming Rehan for three when the left-arm paceman went round the wicket.

With two wickets in the bag for 43 runs, Central Punjab would have been better placed much before that happened. They were left to regret letting off Israrullah before the opener had opened his account as Qasim Akram fumbled a dolly catch in the slip cordon off Hasan.

Israrullah cashed in on merrily to play a repertoire of pleasing strokes on both sides of the ground. The left-hander not undone until he was foxed by a lovely piece of spin bowling by teenaged all-rounder Qasim Akram, who induced a false stroke from Israrullah (61 off 69 balls, 10 boundaries) with Ali Shan excelling with another good catch, albeit on the second attempt.

With Israrullah gone, Central Punjab were hoping for more wickets coming their way but they were thwarted by Kamran and Adil, who together provided a grand exhibition for budding youngsters how to wriggle out of a tight corner. The scoring-rate didn’t slacken and moving along at just above the rate of four runs an over was the most impressive part of the first period.

Kamran celebrated his PCB Domestic Cricketer of the Year award, which was announced on Friday, had already amassed 1,065 runs during the preliminary-round phase of the championship and had already gone past 1,100 by the interval. But his departure was totally unexpected as a lapse in concentration cost dearly. Trying to cut a wide ball from slow left-armer Qasim, the right-hander nicked it to Ali Shan, who made no mistake. Kamran’s 76 from 129 balls during a stay of 207 minutes included 15 fours.

Adil and Zohaib Khan then forged a stand of 41 before Hasan delivered a big blow by sending back Adil for a 202-ball ball 75 (10 boundaries) and completed a fine day by forcing Sajid Khan (6) to pop a catch just behind the slip cordon, leaving Qasim to do the rest just two balls.

And in between those two Hasan wickets, Bilawal Iqbal had trapped Khalid in front of the stumps for three.

On an engrossing day’s play, there was a melodrama of different as well as when a fire outside the ground and behind the Nasim-ul-Ghani Enclosure had stopped action held up the action for several minutes as the atmosphere was filled with heavy smoke.

Scoreboard

KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA (1st Innings):

Fakhar Zaman c Ali Shan b Waqas 17

Israrullah c Ali Shan b Qasim 61

Rehan Afridi b Waqas 3

Kamran Ghulam c Ali Shan b Ahmed 76

Adil Amin b Hasan 75

Zohaib Khan not out 29

Khalid Usman lbw b Bilawal 3

Sajid Khan c Qasim b Akram 6

EXTRAS (B-4, NB-11) 15

TOTAL (for seven wkts, 89.2 overs) 285

FALL OF WKTS: 1-31, 2-43, 3-95, 4-227, 5-266, 6-278, 7-285

TO BAT: Arshad Iqbal, Sameen Gul, Irfanullah Shah

BOWLING (to-date): Waqas Maqsood

17-6-49-2 (1nb); Hasan Ali 19.2-5-57-2 (9nb); Bilawal Iqbal 18-8-61-1; Qasim Akram 17-1-55-1; Ahmed Safi Abdullah 14-2-53-1 (1nb); Mohammad Saad 4-2-6-0

CENTRAL PUNJAB: Mohammad Akhlaq, Ali Zaryab, Usman Salahuddin, Mohammad Saad, Saad Nasim, Qasim Akram, Ali Shan, Bilawal Iqbal, Hasan Ali, Ahmed Safi, Abdullah, Waqas Maqsood

UMPIRES: Asif Yaqoob and Rashid Riaz

TV UMPIRE: Ahsan Raza

MATCH REFEREE: Ali Naqvi

OFFICIAL SCORER: Salman Siddiqui

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