KARACHI: Mohammad Ali picked 6-59 in a sensational pace-bowling display to put Central Punjab in command of their Quaid-i-Azam Trophy match against Southern Punjab on the second day at the Multan Cricket Stadium on Saturday while Northern tighetened their grip in the tie against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa thanks to a blistering 114 by Sarmad Bhatti in Abbottabad.

Despite half-centuries by captain Saud Shakeel and Fawad Alam, Sindh’s tie with Balochistan at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium remains on an even keel.

Resuming on 244-6, Central Punjab finished their first innings at 302 with Faheem Ashraf hitting 87 with 13 boundaries.

It was then Ali who tore apart Southern Punjab, who were bowled for 200 with Mohammad Imran top-scoring with 71. Central Punjab finished the day at four without loss in their second innings.

Northern had bowled out Khyber Pakhtunkhwa for 175 on Friday’s opening day and took a first-innings lead of 74 runs at the Abbottabad Cricket Stadium after being bowled out for 249 with Ihsanullah returning figures of 5-70 after Sarmad’s quickfire century. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were 18-1 at the day’s close.

Ghulam Mudassar finished with 5-73 as Sindh bowled out Balochistan for 269 and were 215-7 with Saud unbeaten at 81 while Fawad made 51.

Summarised scores:

Central Punjab lead Southern Punjab by 106 runs at the Multan Cricket Stadium:

CENTRAL PUNJAB 302 all out (Faheem Ashraf 87, Azhar Ali 61, Mohammad Saad 44; Sameen Gul 4-67, Mohammad Sadaqat 3-67, Mohammad Ilyas 2-61) and 4-0; SOUTHERN PUNJAB 200 all out (Mohammad Imran 71, Zain Abbas 46, Ali Usman 43; Mohammad Ali 6-59, Faheem Ashraf 2-37, Umaid Asif 2-57).

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa trail Northern by 56 runs at the Abbottabad Cricket Stadium:

KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA 175 all out (Waqar Ahmed 35, Sajid Khan 27; Aamir Jamal 5-38, Athar Mehmood 3-95) and 18-1; Northern 249 all out (Sarmad Bhatti 114; Ihsanullah 5-70, Imran Khan Snr 3-70).

Sindh trail Balochistan by 54 runs at the Pindi Cricket Stadium:

BALOCHISTAN 269 all out (Haseebullah 67, Imran Butt 60, Hussain Talat 55, Haris Sohail 50; Ghulam Mudassar 5-73, Abrar Ahmed 3-93); SINDH 215-7 (Saud Shakeel 81 not out, Fawad Alam 51; Asad Shafiq 2-14).

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2022