Central Punjab on cusp of reaching final as Southern collapse

KARACHI: Defending champions Central Punjab have all but qualified for the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy final despite Southern Punjab’s dogged resistance on the penultimate day of their last-round fixture at the SBP Sports Complex here on Monday.

Forced to follow on after being bowled out for 187 — having resumed day three at 153-9 — in response to Central Punjab’s imposing score of 493-7 declared, Southern Punjab were in a position to set up an intriguing final day when opener Zain Abbas and Agha Salman lifted to 211-1.

But a clatter of wickets put Southern Punjab in a state of despair by stumps as they slumped to 314-7 and leading by just eight runs with all their main batsmen gone barring Saif Badar (17). Zain struck a breezy 118 from 172 balls (18 fours and one six) and Salman made 79 (119 balls, 12 boundaries). They put on 112 for the second wicket after Zain and captain Umar Siddique (32) had shared an opening partnership of 99.

Slow left-armer Ahmed Safi Abdullah snared four wickets for 81 runs in 26 overs, while making major impact for the currently fourth-placed Central Punjab, who need a victory here to go through despite trailing Southern Punjab, who are second in the six-team standings.

Third-placed Northern, meanwhile, won’t be able to repeat their act of last season when they reached the final. Resuming at 180-2, Northern’s boat capsized against leaders Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the televised fixture at the National Stadium.

After dismissing Northern for 336, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa skipper Khalid Usman opted against enforcing the follow on despite enjoying a commanding lead of 185 since he wanted his batsmen to gain match practice for the Jan 1-5 final at the same venue.

By stumps, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had advanced to 87-3, giving them an overall lead of 272.

Earlier, Khalid and his fellow spinner Sajid Khan shared the bulk of the wickets as the duo grabbed 3-89 and 4-114, respectively while collectively delivering 69.5 of the 107.5 overs bowled during the Northern’s innings.

Balochistan had to encounter strong batting effort from Sindh, who were asked to bat again by the retiring Balochistan skipper Imran Farhat at the UBL Sports Complex where slow left-armer Kashif Bhatti claimed 4-56 as Sindh folded up for 195 in reply to Balochistan’s 414.

Upfront Sindh added just 35 runs to their overnight tally of 160-6. But former Pakistan opener Khurram Manzoor, who is still at the crease with 84, and Saud Shakeel (90 off 175 balls, nine boundaries) shared a third-wicket stand of 173 as Sindh closed the day at 208-3.

Close of play scores on Monday (day three of four):

First XI, 10th round:

At National Stadium, Karachi: KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA 521 in 130.2 overs (Israrullah 127, Rehan Afridi 127, Kamran Ghulam 107, Zohaib Khan 69, Sahibzada Farhan 62; Ali Sarfraz 4-15, Mubasir Khan 2-108) and 87-3 in 30 overs (Sahibzada Farhan 38, Israrullah 35; Mohammad Nawaz 2-20); NORTHERN 336 in 107.5 overs (Nasir Nawaz 65, Mubasir Khan 59, Faizan Riaz 42, Mohammad Nawaz 38, Hammad Azam 37, Umar Amin 31, Ali Sarfraz 26; Sajid Khan 4-114, Khalid Usman 3-89).

At UBL Sports Complex, Karachi: BALOCHISTAN 414 in 126 overs (Akbar-ur-Rehman 164, Ayaz Tasawwar 72, Imran Farhat 42, Bismillah Khan 42, Umaid Asif b25, Jalat Khan 22; Mohammad Asghar 5-101, Shahnawaz Dhani 2-77, Tabish Khan 2-80); SINDH 195 in 66 overs (Asad Shafiq 87 not out, Azam Khan 38, Mohammad Hasan 27; Kashif Bhatti 4-56, Umaid Asif 3-39, Taj Wali 2-34) and 208-3 in 74 overs (Saud Shakeel 90, Khurram Manzoor 82 not out; Raza-ul-Hasan 2-51) .

At SBP Sports Complex, Karachi: CENTRAL PUNJAB 493-7 declared in 117.4 overs (Usman Salahuddin 219 not out, Ali Zaryab 78, Saad Nasim 72, Qasim Akram 65; Zahid Mahmood 4-152); SOUTHERN PUNJAB 187 in 67.4 overs (Umar Siddique 51, Agha Salman 45, Aamir Yamin 23, Zia-ul-Haq 20; Bilawal Iqbal 3-27, Hasan Ali 3-40) and 314-7 in 81 overs (Zain Abbas 118, Agha Salman 79, Umar Siddique 32, Imran Rafiq 30; Ahmed Safi Abdullah 4-98).