KARACHI: Rawalpindi, Uni­ted Bank Limited (UBL) and Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) all took a day off after sealing three-day victories in the opening round of the Quad-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship on Thursday.

Rawalpindi were the first winners on penultimate day of the four-day Group ‘B’ fixture at the Pindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi where they humbled Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) by 105 runs to grab nine points.

Resuming at 83, KRL’s second innings was swiftly blown away for just 77 by the pace duo of left-armer Nazar Hussain (5-31 in 12 overs) and the lanky right-armer Ataullah (5-46 in 11).

Pakistan’s rising leg-spin star Shadab Khan made a fine debut for former champions SNGPL who crushed Peshawar by 154 runs in the Group ‘A’ encounter at the Abbottabad Cricket Stadium.

Peshawar, who were chasing 282, mustered a miserly total of 127 in their second innings as wickets fell at regular intervals. Shadab claimed 4-12 in 8.4 overs to end up with match figures of 7-35.

Skipper Mohammad Hafeez had 3-14 in eight overs after veteran left-arm seamer Samiullah Khan Niazi took wickets upfront.

Earlier, left-arm paceman Taj Wali picked up 5-81 as SNGPL were dismissed for 277 in their second innings.

UBL were even more clinical in their rout of Karachi Whites by an innings and 73 runs in the Group ‘B’ match here at the UBL Sports Complex.

After adding 42 to their overnight score of 392-7, UBL ended up making a commanding 434 to secure a huge 226-run lead on the first innings. Stand-in captain Hammad Azam was out for 128 (243 balls, 11 fours and three sixes) while Sohail Khan, who put on 160 with Hammad, perished for 63. Ex-Test paceman Mohammad Sami claimed two more wickets to finish with decent analysis of 5-84 in 32 overs.

Sohail then made life miserable for the lower half of Karachi batting as the sturdy fast bowler captured his second five-for in the match as he helped himself to 5-54 in 14.5 overs, giving him magnificent match bag of 11-113 on a sterling debut for UBL.

Only discarded Pakistan opener Khurram Manzoor offered some fight. The right-hander was bowled by spinner Mohammad Nawaz for 54. Left-arm seamer Rumman Raees Khan lent good to Sohail by taking 3-34 from 14 overs.

Lahore Whites were on verge of starting the first-class season on a winning note as well when they reduced Pakistan Television (PTV) to 98-5 after setting the departmental outfit a massive 466-run chase by declaring their second innings at 382-7 at the LCCA Ground in Lahore.

Umaid Asif, better known in domestic circuit for his fast-bowling exploits, had a day to remember. He first bludgeoned a career-best 97 off only 114 balls with 17 fours and one six before returning later in the afternoon to grab three PTV wickets.

Habib Bank Limited (UBL) need another eight wickets on Friday’s fourth and final day after Fata reached 93-2 after being asked to chase an unlikely 507 at the Jinnah Stadium in Sialkot.

Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) were also certain to complete an emphatic victory early on day four after Islamabad slumped to 66-5 after being set a target of 458 at the Diamond Club Ground in Islamabad.

Earlier, Imam-ul-Haq matched his opening partner Fakhar Zaman’s score on Wednesday by scoring 111 (214 balls, eight boundaries) and former Pakistan batsman Imran Farhat hit before HBL closed their second innings at 446-6.

Another ex-Pakistan player to shine was the once wily off-spinner Saeed Ajmal who snared four wickets for 107 runs in his first first-class appearance after two years as National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) took advantage of a bland Iqbal Stadium pitch in Faisalabad to collect 397-8 in response to Faisalabad’s 361.

Close of play scores and results on Thursday (day three of four):

Group ‘A’:

At Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad: FAISALABAD 361 in 117.2 overs (Asif Ali 101, Abdul Samad 59, Saeed Ajmal 47, Hasan Mahmood 40; Raza Hasan 4-112, Qaiser Abbas 3-35, Hazrat Shah 3-104); NBP 397-8 in 149.1 overs (Hamza Paracha 91, Ali Asad 75, Naved Yasin 71 not out, Ahsan Ali 41, Raza Hasan 27; Saeed Ajmal 4-107, Mohammad Talha 2-73).

At Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore: WAPDA 297 in 88.4 overs (Aamir Sajjad 106 not out, Khalid Usman 45, Salman Butt 38, Kamran Akmal 34, Khushdil Shah 30; Bilawal Iqbal 3-51, Aizaz Cheema 2-27, Saif-ur-Rehman 2-55) and 261-7 declared in 79 overs (Mohammad Saad 104 not out, Aamir Sajjad 64, Salman Butt 26; Agha Salman 3-35); LAHORE BLUES 198 in 69.4 overs (Raza Ali Dar 72, Qaiser Ashraf 52 not out, Waqas Saleem 26; Hasnain Shah 4-59, Waqas Maqsood 2-25, Mohammad Irfan 2-41) and 70-2 in 24 overs (Waqas Saleem 26).

At Diamond Club Ground, Islamabad: SSGC 310 in 89.3 overs (Asif Zakir 89, Zain Abbas 44, Shoaib Malik 29, Umar Amin 28, Aamir Yamin 27 not out; Ali Imran Pasha 3-62, Shehzad Azam Rana 3-70, Hamza Nadeem 2-63) and 336-4 declared in 77 overs (Adil Amin 83, Zain Abbas 52, Fawad Alam 50 not out, Shoaib Malik 39 not out, Umar Amin 39, Asif Zakir 28); ISLAMABAD 189 in 67.2 overs (Fahad Iqbal 30, Imad Wasim 26, Ali Sarfraz 25; Zia-ul-Haq 4-46, Kashif Bhatti 2-24, Mohammad Irfan Jr 2-30) and 66-5 in 24 overs (Kashif Bhatti 3-16, Zia-ul-Haq 2-19).

At Abbottabad Cricket Stadium, Abbottabad: SNGPL beat Peshawar by 154 runs.

SNGPL 207 in 60 overs (Mohammad Rizwan 67, Mohammad Hafeez 36, Imran Butt 27; Mohammad Imran Khan 3-44, Shahzaib Ahmed Khan 2-19, Nasir Ahmed 2-47, Taj Wali 2-61) and 277 in 79.3 overs (Imran Butt 60, Shadab Khan 47, Azizullah 33; Taj Wali 5-81, Nasir Ahmed 2-45); PESHAWAR 203 in 59.1 overs (Gohar Ali 66, Sahibzada Farhan 50; Samiullah Khan Niazi 4-50, Shadab Khan 3-23) and 127 in 38.4 overs (Akbar Badshah 36, Jamaluddin 31; Shadab Khan 4-12, Mohammad Hafeez 3-14, Samiullah Khan Niazi 2-32).

Group ‘B’:

At UBL Sports Complex, Karachi: UBL beat Karachi Whites by an innings and 73 runs.

KARACHI WHITES 208 in 51.3 overs (Mohammad Hasan 67, Faisal Iqbal 52, Azam Hussain 25 not out; Sohail Khan 6-59, Mohammad Nawaz 2-29) and 153 in 54.5 overs (Khurram Manzoor 54, Mohammad Hasan 26; Sohail Khan 5-54, Rumman Raees Khan 3-34); UBL 434 in 138.5 overs (Hammad Azam 128, Umar Siddique 74, Sohail Khan 63, Umar Akmal 47, Saad Ali 32, Gulraiz Sadaf 26; Mohammad Sami 5-84, Azam Hussain 2-89, Adeel Malik 2-95).

At LCCA Ground, Lahore: LAHORE WHITES 244 in 73.2 overs (Mohammad Waqas 46, Mohammad Irfan 40, Rizwan Hussain 39, Salman Fayyaz 35, Umaid Asif 33; Raheel Majeed 3-23, Tabish Khan 3-56) and 382-7 declared in 98.5 overs (Rizwan Hussain 138, Umaid Asif 97, Salman Fayyaz 37 not out, Anas Mahmood 31, Ameer Hamza 27, Fahad-ul-Haq 25); PTV 161 in 54.2 overs (Saud Shakeel 62, Waleed Malik 29; Waqas Ahmed 5-54, Mohammad Irfan 3-26, Umaid Asif 2-38) and 98-5 in 23 overs (Hasan Raza 35 not out, Nihal Mansoor 26; Umaid Asif 3-32).

At Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot: HBL 238 in 70.4 overs (Ahmed Shehzad 73, Imam-ul-Haq 41, Rameez Aziz 35; Sohail Akhtar 5-45) and 446-5 declared in 103.1 overs (Fakhar Zaman 111, Imam-ul-Haq 111, Imran Farhat 85, Ahmed Shehzad 46, Fahim Ashraf 38; Asif Ali 3-107, Asif Afridi 2-74); FATA 178 in 55.1 overs (Mohammad Naeem 96, Asif Ali 36, Asif Afridi 30; Fahim Ashraf 3-38, Junaid Khan 3-51, Umar Gul 2-35) and 93-2 in 25 overs (Yasir Hameed 39 not out, Mukhtar Ahmed 31).

At Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi: Rawalpindi beat KRL by 105 runs.

RAWALPINDI 174 in 70.3 overs (Umair Masood 53, Nazar Hussain 28, Sarmad Hameed 26; Yasir Ali 6-50, Sadaf Hussain 3-48) and 139 in 46 overs (Sarmad Hameed 58, Nazar Hussain 29, Shaharyar Ghani 28; Shahenshah Afridi 8-39); KRL 131 in 45.2 overs (Hasan Sardar 38; Nazar Hussain 4-42, Ataullah 3-35) and 77 in 23 overs (Abdul Rehman Muzammil 23; Nazar Hussain 5-31, Ataullah 5-46).

Published in Dawn, September 29th, 2017