KARACHI: Sialkot were on verge of qualifying for the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy Grade-II Cricket Tournament final after securing a handy lead of 87 over Faisalabad on the penultimate day of the semi-final here at the National Stadium on Wednesday.

Faisalabad, who were shot out for 125 on a dramatic day one, then stuttered to 116-3 in their second innings to lead by only 29 runs with talismanic skipper Misbah-ul-Haq among the wickets to fall. The Pakistan Test captain was dismissed for the second time in the match by seamer Mohammad Abbas.

Having got his eye in with three lovely boundaries in a knock of 16, Misbah received a gem of a delivery that nipped back sharply to hit the stumps. Abbas, who was Tuesday’s star performer with magnificent return of 7-38, has figures of 1-23 from 11 overs.

Mohammad Asif, the uncanny seamer who was involved in the famous spot-fixing scandal during the 2010 Lord’s Test, made the first breakthrough with a great ball that opener Abdul Samad just couldn’t handle as it disturbed the stumps.

In between those dismissals, Sialkot skipper and former Pakistan slow left-armer Abdur Rehman got rid of Abubakar Khan for 18 with Ahsan Bhatti taking the catch at mid on.

Ali Rafiq, who opened the innings, held firm for 182 minutes to finish the day on a patient 58 off 125 balls with eight boundaries with Khurram Shehzad (19) adding 49 in their unbroken partnership.

Earlier, Sialkot added 111 to their overnight score of 101-5. Ayaz Tasawwar, who resumed on 27, scored 58 off 110 balls with eight fours and one six, and shared a seventh-wicket stand of 58 with Rehman, who was last out for a 92-ball 50 (seven fours).

Slow left-armer Ahmed Safi was Faisalabad’s most successful wicket-taker with four for 29 in 13.1 overs.

Multan were in complete command of the other semi-final at the Multan Cricket Stadium as the hosts bowled out Hyderabad for 150 to secure a substantial 110-run lead on the first innings.

Slow left-armer Ali Usman grabbed four wickets for 39 runs while pacemen Sadaif Mehdi took 3-15 in 11 overs and Zia-ul-Haq 3-41.

Multan then extended their overall lead to 267 by ending the day on 157-4 with Pakistan reject Sohaib Maqsood contributing an undefeated 67 (off 100 balls, eight fours).

Scoreboard

Earlier, Hyderabad opener Haris Khan carried his bat for 62 (133 balls, eight fours)

Close of play scores in other semi-final (day two of three):

At Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan: MULTAN 260 in 82.2 overs (Zain Abbas 110, Gulraiz Sadaf 31, Imran Rafiq 30, Abdul Rehman Muzammil 29; Nauman Ali 6-56, Nasir Awais 3-121) and 157-4 in 52 overs (Sohaib Maqsood 67 not out, Imran Rafiq 30, Shahzad Ali 28, Abdul Rehman Muzammil 20 not out; Nauman Ali 2-29); HYDERABAD 150 in 45 overs (Haris Khan 62 not out, Shoaib Leghari 34; Ali Usman 4-39, Sadaif Mehdi 3-15, Zia-ul-Haq 3-41)).

FAISALABAD (1st Innings) 125 (Samiullah Khan Niazi 42, Misbah-ul-Haq 32; Mohammad Abbas 7-38, Mohammad Asif 2-32).

SIALKOT (1st Innings, overnight 101-5):

Naeemuddin c Ali b Samiullah 5

Mansoor Amjad c Ali b Naseer 2

Naved Sarwar c Khurram b Ehsan 10

Saif Badar lbw b Ehsan 9

Mohammad Irfan Jr c Misbah b Khurram 35

Ayaz Tasawwar lbw b Ahmed 58

Ahsan Bhatti c Misbah b Ahmed 26

Abdur Rehman c Samad b Ahmed 50

Kaleem Ahmed lbw b Ahmed 0

Mohammad Abbas run out 0

Mohammad Asif not out 0

EXTRAS (LB-13, W-1, NB-2) 17

TOTAL (all out, 72.1 overs) 212

FALL OF WKTS: 1-6, 2-16, 3-20, 4-33, 5-92, 6-135, 7-193, 8-199, 9-208.

BOWLING: Samiullah Khan Niazi 18-4-40-1 (3nb, 1w); Naseer Akram 17-5-37-1; Ehsan Adil 14-2-59-2; Ahmed Safi 13.1-4-29-4; Khurram Shehzad 10-0-34-1.

FAISALABAD (2nd Innings):

Ali Rafiq not out 58

Abdul Samad b Asif 4

Abubakar Khan c Ahsan b Rehman 18

Misbah-ul-Haq b Abbas 16

Khurram Shehzad not out 19

EXTRAS (LB-1) 1

TOTAL (for three wkts, 35 overs) 116

FALL OF WKTS: 17, 2-42, 3-67.

BOWLING (to-date): Mohammad Asif 7-1-21-1; Mohammad Abbas 11-5-23-1; Mohammad Irfan Jr 6-1-24-0; Abdur Rehman 8-1-41-1; Mansoor Amjad 3-0-6-0.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2017