Faizan Riaz’s double ton puts Northern in command against Balochistan

ABBOTTABAD: Right-handed batter Faizan Riaz scored an unbeaten double-century to put Northern in a commanding position in the third-round fixture of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy (QEAT) against Balochistan.

Resuming his overnight century with Northern at 347/3, Faizan continued his domination over Balochistan bowlers and converted into a magnificent double century.

Faizan’s brilliant knock during which he faced 216 balls and hit 27 fours and a six, lifted Northerns to declare at 520/8.

Balochistan found themselves in trouble as they were tottering at the end of the second day at 108/4 with Haris Sohail (26) and Hussain Hussain (9) at the crease.

Captain Asad Shafiq put on a great fight as he scored 53 before becoming one of the two victims of Kashif Ali (2/35).

On the second day, majorly dominated by Northern, Balochistan had something to cheer as their bowler Taj Wali completed the 19th five-wicket haul of his career.

In another second-round fixture, Southern Punjab (SP) pacer Mohammad Ilyas decimated the Sindh’s batting lineup for a paltry 181 In response to the SP’s first innings total of 278.

The right-arm pacer finished with figures of 15-5-50-5, while Ahmed Bashir claimed three and Mohammad Abbas two to further add to the opposition’s misery.

Earlier, Sindh’s mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed finished with astonishing figures of 37.3-10-94-5, bagging his third five-wicket haul.

Sindh’s Muhammad Umar (59), Saad Khan (36) and Fawad Alam (32) put on a fight against a berserk bowling trio of SP.

SP now lead Sindh by 174 runs with seven second innings wickets intact as they finished 77/3 at the conclusion of the second day.

Meanwhile at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad, an early afternoon rain halted a majority of the action of the second-round fixture between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and Central Punjab (CP).

CP resumed their first innings at 24/0 in response to KP’s 220 and were 173/4 when rain forced an early closure to the day’s play.

Abid Ali top-scored with 66, while Abdullah Shafique scored 51.

KP’s Khalid Usman remained the top pick among their bowlers as he finished with figures of 3/52.

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