Faisalabad thrash Karachi Blues to win Under-19 title

KARACHI: Faisalabad lifted the trophy after routing Karachi Blues by an innings and 66 runs on the second day of their four-day final of the Inter-Region Under-19 Three-day Tournament 2018-19 at Mirpur Cricket Stadium in Azad Kashmir on Sunday.

In response to Karachi Blues’ first innings total of 104 all out, Faisalabad resumed their innings from their overnight score of 237-3 and went on to post 308-8 in their 83-over first innings, gaining a huge 204 runs lead. Besides Irfan Khan’s fine 114, Zohaib Amanat (58), Ahmed Butt (43) and Ali Haider (41*) batted with perfection to take their team to the strong position. Nadir Shah got 6-93.

In their second innings, too, Karachi Blues failed to click and were folded for 138 in the 36th over. Haris Bin Tahir (31), Saif Ali (28) and Ali Nasim (25) were the leading scorers.Ali Mustafa and Asim Iqbal bowled exceptionally well, taking four wickets each. Asim finished the game with 11-75.

Aftab Gilani and Mohammad Kaleem supervised the match. The winners were handed over a trophy and a purse of Rs600,000, while the runners-up went away with Rs300,000. Moreover, Rs25,000 each was given to Asim Iqbal (Faisalabad, man-of-the-match), Afaq Ahmed (Abbottabad, best batsman, 563 runs) and Suleman Shafqat (Faisalabad, best bowler, 46 wickets).