Multan strongly placed in QAT G-II semifinal

ISLAMABAD: Multan emerged favourite to win Quaid-i-Azam Trophy (QAT) Grade II semi-final against Hyderabad as they reached 78 for 1 at the draw of stumps on the second day at the Multan Stadium Sunday.

Multan required another 95 runs on the last day Monday with nine of their second innings wickets in hand. Both Hyderabad and Multan scored 117 each in their first innings leaving it all to the second innings to decide the finalist.

Hyderabad then managed 172 in the second, leaving Multan to chase 173 for win from which 78 had already been notched up for the loss of one wicket. Hyderabad Region 117 all out in 48.1 overs: (Shoaib Laghari 38, Saad Khan 27, Amir Yamin 3-10, Ahsan Baig 3-22, Zulfiqar Babar 2-49) and 172 all out in 50.2 overs: (Lal Kumar 36, Shoaib Laghari 36, Amir Yamin 5-38, Ahsan Baig 2-61,)

Scores: Multan Region first innings 117 all out in 37 overs (Zain Abbas 54*, Nouman Akbar 6-56, Babar Khan 3-38) and 78-1 in 23 overs (Waqar Hussain 30*, Zain Abbas 27, Imran Rafiq 20*)

Scores of other semifinal at National Stadium Karachi: Abbottabad Region first innings) 169 all out in 64.3 overs (Imran Shah 47, Kamran Ghulam 37, Farhan Hussain 32, Muhammad Asghar 4-64, Muhammad Umar 2-27, Ashiq Ali 2-28) and 87-4 in 30 overs (Kamran Ghulam 26*, Farhan Hussain 22).