RAWALPINDI: Southern Punjab’s (SP) batter Zain Abbas scored his seventh career century but Sindh’s spinner Abrar Ahmed bagged his second 10-wicket haul as the third-round fixture of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy between the two sides entered into an exciting phase.
Zain, resuming his overnight score of 48, carried on his domination over the Sindh bowlers as he amassed his century to power his side to a respectable total.
The left-handed batter scored 138 as SP accumulated 283 in the second innings after they already had a 97-run first innings lead.
Zain faced 195 deliveries amid his brilliant knock and smashed 13 boundaries and two sixes.
Abrar, on the other hand, followed up his first innings figures of 37.3-10-94-5 with 31.5-3-100-6 for match figures of 11/194.
Set to chase 381, Sindh finished at 57/0 at the stumps. Saim Ayyub (43*) and Khurram Manzoor (14*) will now resume the run chase for their side on the final day.
Meanwhile at the Abbottabad Cricket Stadium in Abbottabad, Northern are on the cusp of a resounding victory over Balochistan as the latter finished the penultimate day at 136/5 in their second innings after Northern captain Nauman Ali enforced the follow-on.
Earlier in the day, Balochistan resumed their first innings at 108/4 in reply to Northern’s 520/8.
Balochistan then skittled out for 216 with only with Hussain Talat (48) and Yasir Shah (31) notable scorers.
Mubasir Khan led the bowling attack with 3/18, while Athar Mehmood, Kashif Ali and Aamir Jamal evenly shared two wickets each.
Ali Waqas (41) and Imran Butt (38) had provided Balochistan with a 59-run start before slipping to 104/3 and then lost two more wickets at the score of 136. They need further 168 runs to avoid an inning defeat.
The wet outfield at the Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad, following persistent rain on Monday halted the action between Central Punjab (CP) and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) on a penultimate day.
