Karachi Whites set Faisalabad 790 to win Quaid Trophy

LAHORE: Karachi Whites maintained their dominance in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2023-24 final here at the Gaddafi Stadium on Wednesday.

Karachi kept things in their grasp by setting an improbable target of 790 runs for Faisalabad. On day four, Faisalabad started their innings but found it challenging to approach the monumental target, losing wickets along the way.

The opening pair for Faisalabad consisted of Taimoor Sultan and Mohammad Huraira. Huraira was dismissed after contributing only five runs from 14 balls, while Taimoor managed 31 runs off 73 deliveries before being caught by Sarfaraz Ahmed, the captain of Karachi Whites, off the bowling of Noman Ali. Wicket-keeper Ali Shan added 24 runs from 43 balls to the score, and left-handed batsman Ali Waqas displayed determination by scoring 48 runs off 73 deliveries with nine boundaries.

Muhammad Irfan Khan and Asif Ali were dismissed with just one and three runs, respectively. At the end of the day, Faheem Ashraf and Ali Ashraf were the unbeaten batsmen.

Earlier, Karachi Whites' Asad Shafiq and Sarfaraz Ahmed continued their innings from the previous day. Asad reached his 31st first-class century by scoring an impressive 100 runs from 201 balls before the lunch break, contributing to Karachi Whites' total of 350 runs in 92 overs. Karachi Whites then declared their innings at 370 runs for the loss of seven wickets in 98.1 overs.

Sarfaraz ended his innings with 73 runs from 112 deliveries and emerged as the second-highest run-scorer of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2023-24, with a total of 697 runs in 11 innings. Asad Shafiq secured the third position after scoring 113 runs from 222 balls in this innings, bringing his tally to 670 runs in 13 innings.

Khurram Shahzad took two wickets for Faisalabad in the second innings, while Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Ali, and Arshad Iqbal each claimed a wicket.

Scores in brief:

Karachi Whites 543 all out, 120.2 overs (Saim Ayub 203, Shan Masood 180; Mohammad Ali 3-63, Arshad Iqbal 3-94, Khurram Shahzad 3-120) and 370-7 dec, 98.1 overs (Asad Shafiq 113, Saim Ayub 109, Sarfaraz Ahmed 73; Khurram Shahzad 2-49, Arshad Iqbal 1-41)

Faisalabad 124 all out, 35.5 overs (Muhammad Irfan Khan 32, Ali Waqas 27; Mir Hamza 5-44, Shahnawaz Dahani 4-50) and 129-6, 41.3 overs (Ali Waqas 48, Taimoor Sultan 31; Asad Shafiq 1-9, Noman Ali 1-15, Mir Hamza 1-31)