KARACHI: A century by Salman Khan has put Fata in pole position to open their Quaid-e-Azam Trophy campaign with a win.

On the fourth and final day of the first-round fixture in Rawalpindi on Wednesday, the home side will be facing a mammoth 384-run target against an in-form Fata bowling attack.

After pacer Sameen Gul had claimed two more victims to completed an eight-wicket haul to finish off Rawalpindi’s innings on Tuesday, Salman hit 110 runs off 199 balls as fellow Fata betters struggled to make an impact.

The 22-year-old, who is on his first-class debut, smashed 10 boundaries and a six to take Fata to 225-6 before captain Khushdil Shah declared the innings.

Rawalpindi were 16-0 by the close of the day’s play at the Pindi Cricket Stadium.

At the city’s Shoaib Akhtar Cricket Stadium, Multan spinner Ali Usman negated the impact of Faisalabad’s Ahmed Safi Abdullah’s eight-wicket haul earlier.

Usman took three wickets to register a five-for and dismiss Faisalabad for a total of 269, which was down to innings of 69 each of Asif Ali and Ahmed.

Multan had a shaky start to their second innings as they lost four early wickets — two of which came in Ahmed’s name — but Imran Rafiq’s 68 off 108 balls was enough to help them end the day at 155-5 and a 119-run lead.

In Abbotabad, Karachi Whites bundled out Peshawar for 301 after the latter had started their day at 231-5 before Omair Bin Yousuf and Asaf Shafiq helped the former to a 280-run lead.

Pacer Ghulam Mudassar and Shahnawaz Dahani took three and two wickets respectively for the Karachi outfit while Abrar Ahmed and Mir Hamza also got a couple each.

In their second innings, Karachi were struggling at 53-3 but scores of 70 and 76 by Omair and Asad respectively, before both were run out, took the team to 249-6 by the close of the day’s play. Abbas Afridi took two wickets for Peshawar.

The match between Lahore Blues and Lahore Whites at the Gaddafi Stadium is headed towards a draw with the Blues trailing by 123 runs at 61-2.

The Whites, howeever, had posted 432 in their first innings with Saad Nasim converting his hundred into a double century.

The out-of-favour Pakistan international hit 221 runs off 291 balls, while tailender Mohammad Irfan added 42. Lahore Blues’ first two wickets fell to pacer Ahmed Bashir.

Scores in brief:

Multan lead by 119 runs against Faisalabad

MULTAN 233 in 80.4 overs (Zain Abbas 65; Ahmed Safi Abdullah 8-62, Khurram Shahzad 1-33); FAISALABAD 269 in 80 overs (Asif Ali 69, Ahmed Safi Abdullah 69; Ali Usman 5-66, Zahid Mehmood 2-81) & Multan 155-5 in 52 overs (Imran Rafiq 68, Aamer Yamin 34 not out; Khurram Shahzad 2-26, Ahmed Safi Abdullah 2-47)

Lahore Whites lead by 123 runs against Lahore Blues

LAHORE BLUES 248 in 81.3 overs (Hussain Talat 61, Junaid Ali 51; Ahmed Bashir 4-23, Aamir Jamal 3-65); LAHORE WHITES 432 all out in 124.5 overs (Saad Nasim 221, Ahmed Shehzad 44; Kashif Bhatti 3-105, Ali Shafique 2-62, Waqas Ahmed 2-83, Hunain Shah 2-98) & LAHORE BLUES 61-2 in 26 overs (Umar Siddiq 24 not out, Rizwan Hussain 21 not out; Ahmed Bashir 2-24)

Karachi Whites lead by 232 runs against Peshawar

KARACHI WHITES 332 in 103.4 overs (Khurram Manzoor 87, Asad Shafiq 70; Muhammad Ilyas 4-85, Sajid Khan 3-61); PESHAWAR 301 all out in 84.5 overs (Sahibzada Farhan 85, Israr Ullah 59, Abbas Ali 47; Ghulam Mudassar 3-36, Mir Hamza 2-26, Shahnawaz Dahani 2-51, Abrar Ahmed 2-108) & KARACHI WHITES 249-6 in 59 overs (Asad Shafiq 76, Omair Bin Yousuf 70; Abbas Afridi 2-69)

Rawalpindi need 384 runs to win against FATA

FATA 318 in 92.1 overs (Mohammad Usman 99, M Sarwar Afridi 76; Bilawal Bhatti 4-89, Mubasir Khan 2-55); RAWALPINDI 144 in 46.2 overs (Mubasir Khan 42, Abdul Fasih 41; Sameen Gul 8-51, Irfanullah Shah 2-19) & FATA: 225-6 (decl.) in 73 overs (Salman Khan Jnr 110; Mehran Mumtaz 3-83, Bilawal Bhatti 2-22); RAWALPINDI 16-0 in 8 overs (Hassan Raza 9 not out, Abdul Faseeh 7 not out).

Published in Dawn, September 13th, 2023