KARACHI: Saad Ali blasted a splendid hundred to put Karachi Whites in control against Lahore Whites, while Habib Bank Limited (HBL) were on the verge of follow-on against National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) in their Quaid-e-Azam Trophy matches on Tuesday. On the second day of a Group B outing, at the Gaddafi Stadium Lahore, the left-handed Saad, who was batting on 72 on Monday, went on to hit 104 off 198 balls with 18 fours to enable Karachi Whites to post 363 all out in their first innings after they had resumed at 209-4. Saad shared 133 runs for the fifth wicket with promising Saud Shakeel, who fell for 54 in which he hit five boundaries. Babar Rehman, near the end, struck useful 45 with seven fours. Pacer Asif Raza was the pick of the bowlers with 6-127. In reply, at stumps, Lahore Whites were reeling at 100-4 with Mohammad Waheed making 45 with eight fours. Experienced pacer Babar Rehman picked 2-29. At Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot, Habib Bank Limited (HBL), who direly need a win to qualify for the Super Eight stage, were struggling at 110-9 in their first innings in response to NBP’s total of 326. Young all-rounder Ammad Butt was batting on 25. Left-arm spinner Mohammad Asghar picked 4-27. Akbar-ur-Rehman captured 2-14. Earlier, Umar Waheed, who was batting on 77, slammed 100 off 233 balls with 11 fours. NBP had resumed from 265-5. Fahim Ashraf blasted 93-ball 61 with eight fours and a six. Altaf Ahmed got 4-67, while Ammad Butt clinched 2-14. At National Ground, Islamabad, Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) gained lead when they reached 188-8 in response to WAPDA’s first innings score of 187 after resuming at 12 without loss. Usman Ashraf was at the crease on 60 in which he had cracked nine fours. Zain Abbas struck a sedate 49 off 127 balls which featured eight fours. Test spinner Zulfiqar Babar got 4-35. Azhar Attari and Waqas Maqsood took two wickets each. At the Pindi Stadium, Rawalpindi, the match between FATA and Rawalpindi was evenly poised as the tribesmen were 72-4 while chasing 164. Fawad Khan made 37 off 39 balls with seven fours. International all-rounder Yasir Arafat (2-17) and Naseer Ahmed (2-20) bowled well. In response to Rawalpindi’s first innings score of 163, FATA perished for only 89 after resuming at 34-6. Mohammad Irfan scored 43 off 76 balls with eight fours. Haroon Sadaqat made 27 with four boundaries. Yasir Arafat (5-35) and Saad Altaf (5-53) bowled lethally. However, after they had gained 58 runs lead, Rawalpindi were bowled out for only 105 in their second innings. As many as 34 wickets tumbled on the first two days. The debutant Razaullah Wazir claimed 6-21. He was ably backed by Irfanullah Shah with 4-30. Wazir ended the match with 8-69, while Irfan finished with 8-74. At the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad, Test discard Taufeeq Umar hit fine 152-ball 80 with eight fours to enable Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL) to gain lead against Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) when they scored 249-9 in response to their rivals’ first innings total of 124. Imran Butt made 29. Pakistan’s one-day skipper Azhar Ali belted 24 with two fours. Medium pacer Adnan Ghous produced his career-best figures of 5-66. Left-arm spinner Zafar Gohar bagged 3-60. At Marghzar Ground in Islamabad, skipper Khalid Latif’s belligerent 170 not out apparently failed to prevent Port Qasim Authority (PQA) from conceding lead as they were 213-9 in their first innings in response to United Bank Limited’s (UBL) total of 318. Khalid hit 32 fours and a six in his 197-ball heroic effort. Test pacer Ehsan Adil claimed 5-60. Sameen Gul captured 3-26. Earlier, left-arm pacer Zohaib Shera (6-80) enabled PQA to prevent UBL from piling up a huge total when they lost their remaining four wickets after adding only 45 runs to their overnight score of 277-6. Shera was ably backed by pacer Waqar Ahmed, who got 3-74. At Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar, Hyderabad were in driving seat as they reached 274-5 in their first innings at stumps in response to the hosts’ total of 223. Guest player Yasir Hameed struck 76 with 11 fours. Zeeshan Gul belted 71 with ten fours. Rizwan Ahmed (48*) and Lal Kumar (36*) were at the crease. Taj Wali and Umair Khan claimed two wickets each. At Diamond Club Ground in Islamabad, after taking 19 runs lead against Islamabad, Lahore Blues were struggling at 95-7 in their second innings. Raza Ali Dar was at the crease on 24. Young Hasan Ali picked 4-18. In response to Lahore Blues’ first innings total of 188, Islamabad had perished for 169 with Abid Ali scoring 89 off 125 balls with 16 fours. Bilawal Iqbal and Ahmed Bashir claimed five wickets each.
