Karachi: On the third day of the eighth round of the Quaid-e-Azam trophy, Central Punjab beat Balochistan by nine wickets to bag third consecutive win, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa decimated Southern Punjab by 10 wickets. Northern in trouble against Sindh with 185-run deficit.
At the State Bank stadium, Balochistan gave 47 runs target to Central Punjab which was easily overhauled on one wicket. Ali Zaryab (22) and Usman Salahuddin (nine) remained not-out. Muhammad Akhlaq was picked up by Raza Hasan on 10. Central Punjab piled up 369 runs in the first innings.
Earlier Balochistan restarted the second innings, on the third day, from 130-6 and the whole team were bundled out on 285 (with 46 runs lead). Overnight batsmen Umaid Asif and Jalat Khan knitted a brilliant 138-run stand but could not pull out their team off the hook. They scored 69 and 65 respectively.
Central Punjab’s captain Hasan Ali continued his superb balling form to pick up 5-76. Waqas Maqsood bagged three wickets.
At the UBL Sports complex, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa overpowered Southern Punjab by ten wickets.
KP had just four runs to chase which were scored without loss.
On the third day, Southern Punjab were followed-on and reduced to 200 runs in the second innings after just three runs lead.
Muhammad Umair was prominent with 77 runs. Saif Badar 26, Zahid Mehmood 20 and Zain Abbas scored 18 runs.
KP’s Khalid Usman siphoned three, Sajid Khan and Fakhar Zaman got two wickets each.
Earlier Southern Punjab, replying to KP’s 487 runs in the first innings, scored 290. Amir Yamin played a brilliant inning of 93. In the first innings KP’s Sajid Khan claimed five wickets, while Khalid Usman hooked three rival batsmen.
At the National Stadium, Northern are in trouble against Sindh after scoring 126 for the loss of four wickets at the end of the third day’s play. Northern are still under 185-run deficit. Hammad Azam and Mubassir Khan are unbeaten on 25 and one run respectively.
Faizan Riaz (31), Umar Amin (17), Nasir Nawaz (16) and Muhammad Nawaz (15) have already gone back to the dressing room.
Azizullah, Shahnawaz Dhani and Abrar Ahmed have had one wicket each.
Earlier, Sindh, after acquiring 311 runs lead, declared the first innings on 514-8. Captain Asad Shafiq stood unbeaten on 117. Saad Ali and Shehzar Mohammad were prominent with 44 and 28 respectively.
Northern’s Muhammad Nawaz dismissed five for 108.
Northern scored 203 runs in the first innings.