Karachi: Impressive fast bowling spell by Khyber Pakhtunkha’s Irfanullah Shah has pushed Sindh to 229 all-out, just a few overs before the culmination of the first day of the sixth round of the Quaid-e-Azam trophy.
KP chose to bowl, at the State Bank stadium. Sindh had a 83-run opening stand courtesy 57 by Sharjeel Khan afterwards the middle order could not last long. Captain Asad Shafiq held one end till the last session, but his dismissal, at 60, paved the way for KP. Hasan Mohsin & Omair Yousuf put resistance of 24-run each and Sindh knelt down at 229 in 81.2 overs.
KP’s Irfanullah Shah was impressive with his pace and bounce, the lanky right-armer bagged five for 33 in 19 overs. Off spinner Sajid Khan got 3-66.
KP ended the day with 5-0. Musaddiq Ahmed (three) and Israrllah (zero) will resume the second day.
In the televised encounter, at the National Stadium, Balochistan are in trouble against Southern Punjab. By the end of the day Balochistan are 16-4 due to a devastating spell by Amir Yamin who picked up three wickets for just four runs in as many overs. Umaid Asif (three) and Taimur Ali (zero) are the unbeaten Balochistan batters. Muhammad Ilyas got the sole wicket.
Azeem Ghumman (zero), Imran Farhat (three), Ali Waqas (one) and Akbar-ur-Rehman (one) are the dismissed batsmen.
Earlier Southern Punjab, chose to bat after winning the coin-toss, and stitched 256 runs before getting all-out in 79.5 overs. Salman Ali Agha topped the batting chart with 50, while leg-spinner Zahid Mehmood played a handy 45-run knock down the order. Opener Zain Abbas score 40. For Balochistan Taj Wali bagged three while Umaid Asif, Kashif Bhatti and Jalat Khan siphoned a piece each.
At the UBL sports complex, Northern bowled out in 57 overs, against Central Punjab, for 243 runs. Northern’s start wasn’t desirable as they lost five batsmen for just 63 on the board. Central’s skipper Hasan Ali was the pick of bowlers with 4-48.
Asif Ali with his brisk 39-ball 72 rescued Northern. Further Muhammad Nawaz (50) & Hammad Azam (47) escorted Northern to 243 runs.
By the day end, Central Punjab are batting on 49 with Ali Zaryab (22) and Bilawal Iqbal (two) are at the crease to re-start the innings on the second day. Muhammad Akhlaq got retired hurt on 25.