KARACHI: After conceding first innings lead, Peshawar made a strong recovery to stay alive when they overwhelmed Karachi Whites by 81 runs on the fourth and final day of their second round Group II fixture of the Super Eight stage of Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2018-19 here at the Southend Club Ground on Friday.
The win enabled Peshawar to open their account with six points. They will now face Habib Bank Limited (HBL) in their last league outing next week.
Chasing 250, Karachi Whites’ batting line-up failed to click and were folded for only 168 in 59 overs. Stumper Mohammad Hassan was the only bright spark of the hosts’ batting as he smashed a solid 63 off 78 balls to bring some respectability to the total. Hassan smacked seven fours during his innings.
Test discard Khurram Manzoor, who has been terrific with the bat this season, also failed to live up to the billing as he fell for 21. Khurram faced 44 balls and hit one six and one four during his brief stay at the wicket.
Shehzar Mohammad, who also has to his credit a double century this season, scored 20 of 65 balls, hitting one four.
Zahid Mehmood bowled tightly, picking 3-54 through his leg-spin bowling. Akmal Khan Durrani (2-23), Mohammad Ilyas (2-27) and Mohammad Mohsin (2-22) were others among the wickets.
After conceding a 27-run lead, Peshawar resumed their second innings at 212-6 and were bowled out for 276 to set a fighting total for Karachi Whites. Sajid Khan batted superbly, hitting 53 off 110 balls. Sajid smashed three fours in his fighting knock to set up the victory for the visitors.
Off-spinner Waleed Ahmed produced his career-best figures of 6-85. His previous best figures in an inning of a first-class game were 6-155.Peshawar posted 311 in their first innings. Karachi Whites, in response, made 338.This was the second successive loss for Karachi Whites which means they are now out of the event.
Meanwhile, the other showdown of the same group between HBL and Sui Southern Gas Company Limited (SSGC) ended in a draw with the former taking three points due to first innings lead which took them to 12 points.
Chasing a victory target of 318, HBL resumed their second innings from overnight score of 12-2 and reached 199-6 in 88.4 overs to force the draw. After a collapse at the top order, skipper Imran Farhat batted with determination, scoring a match-saving 77 to gift three crucial points to his side which a few days ago lifted the One-day Cup title.Farhat, who hit 13 fours from 165 balls, shared 77 runs for the fourth wicket association with Umar Akmal who fell for 34, having hit six fours from 90 balls. Farhat then added 51 valuable runs with Rameez Aziz (15) for the fifth wicket stand.
Zohaib Khan (36*) and Abdul Rehman (12*) then batted till the end. The man of crisis Zohaib smacked five fours from 159 balls. Rehman struck one four and one six from 25 deliveries.Left-arm Test pacer Mohammad Amir (2-34) and Usman Shinwari (2-35) bowled tightly. Amir finished the game with 7-78.
The draw left SSGC at nine points.SSGC posted 211 and 380. HBL piled-up 274 in the first innings.The final round which will be held here from November 19-22 will decide the two finalists.
In Group II, Peshawar will face HBL and SSGC will take on Karachi Whites. In Group I, holders Sui Northern Gas Pipelines Limited (SNGPL, 19 points) will lock horns with Khan Research Laboratories (KRL, 9 points) and WAPDA (10 points) will take on Lahore Blues (0 points).