KARACHI: Day three of the opening-round action in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy solely belonged to a trio of batters for obvious reason.

With his Pakistan days now seemed behind him, Khur­ram Manzoor continues to make headlines with the bat. And Friday was no different either. The 34-year-old opening batter not only registered a 29th first-class century but his workmanlike 413-minute innings of 153 (276 balls, 20 fours and one six) took him past 11,000 career runs.

But despite Khurram’s heroics, Sindh only managed 318-8 in reply to Balochistan first-innings score of 402 at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad. Khurram and Saad (70) added 132 for the second wicket.

Faizan Riaz and Mubasir Khan both duly converted overnight 50s into centuries while powering Northern to 472-6 — a lead of 135 over Khyber Pakhtunkhwa — at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore.

Faizan (115 off 262 balls, 10 fours) and Mubasir 112 (184 balls, 15 boundaries) extended their fifth-wicket stand to 168 before Umar Amin (94 off 201, 11 fours, one six) and captain Nauman Ali (85 off 93, nine fours, two sixes) shared an unbroken partnership of 159.

Meanwhile, Central Punjab were enjoying an overall lead of 270 after dismissing Southern Punjab for 252 at the Multan Cricket Stadium.

Ahmed Shehzad struck an unbeaten 66 to help his side reach 138-2 in the second innings.

Close of play scores on Friday (day three of four):

First round:

At Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore: KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA 337 in 105.1 overs (Sahibzada Farhan 71, Iftikhar Ahmed 51, Israrullah 50, Khalid Usman 39, Sajid Khan 32, Rehan Afridi 26; Mohammad Musa Khan 5-78, Munir Riaz 2-45); NORTHERN 472-6 in 138 overs (Faizan Riaz 115, Mubasir Khan 112, Umar Amin 94 not out, Nauman Ali 85 not out Nasir Nawaz 25; Sajid Khan 3-83, Imran Khan 2-70).

At Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad: BALOCHISTAN 402 in 133 overs (Imran Butt 104, Inam-ul-Haq 97, Bismillah khan 74, Abdul Wahid Bangalzai 63, Ayaz Tasawwar 30; Mir Hamza 2-32, Mohammad Hasnain 2-47, Mohammad Asghar 2-111, Ashiq Ali 2-129); SINDH 318-8 in 123.3 overs (Khurram Manzoor 153, Saad Khan 70, Mohammad Hasan 43; Raza-ul-Hasan 4-127, Faiz Gohar 2-38, Amad Butt 2-44).

At Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan: CENTRAL PUNJAB 384 in 115.3 overs (Abid Ali 158, Ahmed Shehzad 63, Hussain Talat 52, Junaid Ali 27, Azhar Ali 25; Ali Usman 4-99, Aamir Yamin 2-60, Mohammad Ilyas 2-86) and 138-2 in 30.5 overs (Ahmed Shehzad 66 not out, Abid Ali 41); SOUTHERN PUNJAB 252 in 89.5 overs (Tayyab Tahir 79, Zia-ul-Haq 35, Azam Khan 29, Imran Rafiq 23, Naved Yasin 21; Zafar Gohar 4-93, Ehsan Adil 2-61).

Published in Dawn, October 23rd, 2021