KARACHI: The Quaid-e-Azam Trophy day-night final between Northern and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was evenly poised on the second day here at the National Stadium on Sunday.
Northern rode on fine fifties from Haider Ali (81) and Mohammad Huraira (51) to reach 184-3 in 56 overs in their first innings in response to KP's total of 374 all out on a pitch which had become slightly easier to bat on.
At dinner, Northern were 96 without loss. However, soon after the interval, Test off-spinner Sajid Khan gave a much-needed breakthrough to KP who trapped Huraira lbw. He pitched the ball slightly on off-stump, spun in and found the right-hander just in front of the wickets.
Huraira smashed seven fours and one six from 65 balls. Huraira shared 100 runs for the opening stand with Haider. During his innings, Huraira became the leading scorer of the season with 929 runs, five ahead of Sahibzada Farhan of KP who has to his credit 924 runs after having fallen without a run in KP's first innings.
Sarmad Bhatti then joined Haider and the duo put on 63 runs for the second wicket before Sajid removed the latter. Haider came down the wicket and wanted to hit it over mid-on for a six but ended up handing it to Sameen Gul who took an easy catch in the deep.
Haider, whose fifty came off 86 balls, smashed 14 fours from 133 balls. This was his fourth first-class fifty. Sameen Gul then had skipper Umar Amin for four to leave Northern at 180-3.
At stumps, Sarmad Bhatti was batting on 39 and with him was Faizan Riaz on 1. Sarmad had hammered three fours in his 107-ball unfinished effort. Northern still trail by 190 with seven wickets in hand.
Sajid, the hero of the second Test win against Bangladesh recently, took 2-30 in his fine 15 overs.
Earlier, KP resumed their first innings at 252-5 and were bowled out for 374 in 118.2 overs.
Asif Afridi, who was batting on three when bails were drawn on the opening day, fell after making 68, eighth first-class fifty in his 35th game.
Asif, who fell to off-spinner Mubasir Khan, held in the deep by Mohammad Nawaz, clobbered six fours and one six from 104 balls. Asif, who completed his fifty off 76 balls, added 63 runs for the eighth wicket with Mohammad Wasim Junior, who scored 21 off 54 balls, hitting two fours.
Sajid Khan made run-a-ball 22, hitting one six and one four before being trapped lbw off Mohammad Nawaz.
Stumper Rehan Afridi fell early in the day for 31, having resumed at 23. Rehan, who was removed by pacer Kashif Ali, struck two fours from 64 balls.
It was a day to remember for the 19-year-old Rawalpindi-born Mubasir Khan as he ripped through KP's tail, finishing with 4-52 in 19.2 overs. He removed Mohammad Wasim Junior and Imran Khan Senior off two successive deliveries to fold KP.
Dazzling light show at the inauguration ceremony of renovated Gaddafi Stadium Lahore on February 7, 2025. —...
Skiers ski after a traning session in a snow-covered field in Gulmarg, a ski resort and one of the main tourist...
Australian team reaches Lahore from Colombo to participate in the Champions Trophy on February 17, 2025. —...
Football players warm up during a training session at the Jinnah Sports Stadium in Islamabad on March 20, 2024. —...
A representational image of tennis. — Unsplash/FileISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Tennis Federation has launched its first...
Liverpool's Virgil van Dijk celebrating after beating Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-1 at Anfield in the English Premier...