Quaid-e-Azam Trophy: Salman, Azhar crack tons for Central Punjab as third round begins

KARACHI: Salman Butt and Azhar Ali on Saturday blasted solid centuries to help Central Punjab reach 338-5 in 96 overs in their first innings on the opening day of their third round four-day fixture of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy (first-class) against Balochistan at the Bugti Stadium, Quetta.

Azhar’s 165-ball 123, studded with 20 fours, was his second century on the trot this season and 37th of his career in his 190th first-class outing.

Salman was batting on 152 at close. The former Pakistan captain had faced 285 balls of which 24 were dispatched for fours. The two put on an opening stand of 237 as Central Punjab, after opting for a toss, were put into bat.

Once Azhar was back in the pavilion, Central Punjab lost three wickets for 17 runs.

Kamran Akmal’s 28-ball 24, which included three fours and a six, put a halt on the collapse.

Leg-spinner Yasir Shah led Balochistan’s bowling as he bowled 32 overs and picked crucial wickets of Azhar and Usman Salahuddin (3) with day’s feat of 2-103 in 32 overs.

Umar Gul, Khurram Shehzad and Ammad Butt claimed one wicket each.

All-rounder Zafar Gohar (11*) was batting alongside Salman when stumps were drawn.

Already on top of the points table with 35 points, Central Punjab can have a shot at collecting maximum batting points by crossing the 400-run mark in the next 24 overs. The touring party has already bagged three batting points.

Balochistan, who have collected one bowling point in the innings so far, will look to pick all ten wickets in 110 overs to bag all three available points.

Meanwhile, Northern were reeling at 86-3 against Sindh at the close of the rain-shortened opening day’s play at KRL Stadium.

Overnight and early morning rain meant only 40 overs were possible after the entire opening two sessions were lost as the fixture began at 2:45pm.

The toss was not contested as Sindh captain Asad Shafiq elected to bowl first.

When the stumps were drawn, Rohail Nazir was batting on 17 and Ali Sarfraz on three.

Afaq Raheem (19) and Haider Ali (26) provided Northern a decent start of 44 before both were sent packing in the space of 14 runs.

Northern suffered another major blow when their captain Umar Amin (17) was run out when there were 71 runs on the board.

Right-arm pacer Tabish Khan and left-arm spinner Kashif Bhatti claimed a wicket apiece.

Northern are lying at the bottom of the six-team chart with 11 points after the first two rounds. Sindh are third with 20 points.

At the Abbottabad Cricket Stadium, openers Sahibzada Farhan and Israrullah hit their maiden half-centuries of the season as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reached 126 without loss on a shortened opening day.

Farhan was batting on 63 and Israrullah on 52 after early morning rain and wet field had delayed the start of the match by 150 minutes before late afternoon rain brought an early closure, meaning only 32.5 overs of play was possible. This was after KP had won the toss and elected to make first use of the wicket.

Farhan, who scored 29 in the opener against Northern and then managed three in his only innings against Sindh, has faced 104 balls and hit 11 exquisite fours.

Israrullah, who missed the opener but played against Sindh and scored two, has received 99 deliveries off which seven have been converted into fours.

Pakistan fast bowler Mohammad Abbas was in action and ended with figures of 8-1-21-0. Another Test fast bowler, Bilawal Bhatti, had figures of 6-0-35-0.