KARACHI: Northern’s Muhammad Huraira hit his first triple-century in First-class cricket before Mubasir Khan’s six-fer completed their crushing victory over Balochistan by an innings and 170 runs in the final round of Quaid-e-Azam Trophy (QEAT).
Northern, resuming at an overnight score of 449/2, carried their momentum; adding another 91-run to the total before the skipper, Umer Amin departed after scoring a brilliant half-century. Amin scored 51 off 73 balls; including seven boundaries.
Northern’s previous day hero, Huraira, too, kept scoring runs, and, eventually, became the second-youngest Pakistani batter to score a triple century in FC cricket. He scored 311 off 343 deliveries, laced with 40 boundaries and four sixes.
With small contributions from down the order, the Northern posted a massive 621-runs total on the board; taking a huge lead of 316 runs against Balochistan.
Trailing by 316, Balochistan, started their second inning and struggled throughout the innings, none of their batters could go deep; resulting in Balochistan, bowling out for a skimpy 146; losing the match by an inning and 170 runs.
For Northern, Mubasir Khan took six wickets for just 43 runs, while Musa Khan claimed two. Ather Mahmood, on the other hand, bagged one wicket.
With this victory, the Northern have qualified for the final of the QEAT, while Balochistan remained at the bottom.
At NBP Sports Complex, Sindh is currently leading by 219-runs against Southern Punjab in the second innings; as the side scored 294/7 before stumps were called on day three.
Southern, resuming at an overnight score of 333/6, could only add 52 runs for the loss of their last four wickets, Ali Usman, batted valiantly; scoring an unbeaten 34, while the rest of his partners made little to no contribution with the bat. Southern, in the end, bundled out for 385.
For Sindh, Shahnawaz Dahani bagged three wickets, while Muhammad Asghar and Zahid Mehmood, each claimed two wickets. Whereas, Asad Shafique struck out a batter.
In response, Sindh had an average start to their second inning; losing their first wicket for just 23 runs, as Ahsan Ali departed after scoring 11. However, Khurram Manzoor, along with Saud Shakil, tried to anchor the innings; with the pair adding an 80-runs partnership before Manzoor was dismissed after scoring 59.
Saad Khan then joined Shakil, the pair appeared solid, and also had a decent partnership of 40-runs, but, Shakil fell short, after scoring 63, he faced 113 deliveries, and smashed seven boundaries. Saad, on the other hand, remained not-out for 63, will now resume the innings at 294/7 on the final day, alongside Zahid.
For Southern, Ali claimed three wickets, while Muhammad Ilyas, Salman Ali Agha, and Muhammad Junaid each shared one wicket apiece.
In another final round match, Central Punjab, chasing 495, against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), are looking solid as their opening pair added 123-runs without losing any wicket.
Earlier, KPK resumed at an overnight score of 89/0 in their second innings, could only add 10 runs for the loss of their first wicket, as Sahibzada Farhan, departed after scoring 45. The side ran into a brief collapse, slipping from 99/0 to 135/4, the top-scorer for the side in the second inning, Fakhar Zaman, too, departed; scoring 62.
Iftikhar Ahmed and Adil Amin, however, scored the fifties and kept the side out of any trouble. Iftikhar scored 61, while Adil scored 54. Both the batters remained unbeaten as KPK declared the innings at 249/4.
For Central, Bilawal Iqbal took three wickets, while Zafar Gohar claimed one.
Abid Ali (49*) and Rizwan Hussain (66*) will now resume the run-chase on the final day of the final round.
READ: Huraira’s double-ton outshines Masood’s 190 as Northern on top of Balochistan
