Quaid-e-Azam Trophy action resumes today

LAHORE: Domestic red-ball cricket resumes on Monday (today) when the fifth-round of the four-day first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy commences at three centres.

The Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) split the country’s premier event into two phases to create a window for the National T20 Cup ahead of Pakistan’s tour of Australia, which gets under way on November 3 in Sydney with the first of three T20Is.

With Pakistan scheduled to play two World Test Championship matches against Australia Down Under from November 21, this round serves as a crucial opportunity for the players named for the series to polish their red-ball skills. The Australia-bound players making their final appearance in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy are Abid Ali (Sindh), Asad Shafiq (Sindh), Azhar Ali (Central Punjab), Kashif Bhatti (Sindh), Naseem Shah (Central Punjab), Shan Masood (Southern Punjab) and Yasir Shah (Balochistan).

Northern’s Shaheen Shah Afridi, who has also been named in the Test side, will continue his rehabilitation at the National Cricket Academy and resume bowling in Australia.

Pakistan Test captain Azhar will be in action at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad, as table-toppers Central Punjab face Sindh, who are sitting in the fourth position. As Azhar will not be available to lead Central Punjab for the rest of the competition, the team management has handed leadership responsibilities to vice-captain Ahmed Shehzad.

Central Punjab are the only side to have recorded two wins in the ongoing event, both by innings’ margins.

Central Punjab will be hoping that their spin duo of Zafar Gohar and Bilal Asif continue their from. With 14 wickets, left-arm spinner Zafar is the second highest wicket-taker so far. Bilal is third on the list with 13 scalps.

Central Punjab also have one of the three batsmen to have scored a double-century this season in Salman Butt, who cracked 237 against Balochistan in Quetta in his side’s victory by an innings and 12 runs.

In Abid Ali, Sindh possess an opener with a double-century this tournament. The right-handed batsman cracked an unbeaten 249 in his side’s opening match against Balochistan in Karachi.

Sindh will also be pinning their hopes on Omair Bin Yousuf, who has scored 297 runs in five innings at an average of 74.25, to register their first win of the tournament.

Kashif Bhatti, named for Australia Tests, will be a bowler to watch as his left-arm spin has accounted for 10 scalps in three innings.

Jinnah Stadium, Sialkot, will host first-class cricket after a gap of a season when Shan-led Southern Punjab take on Umar Amin’s Northern.

Southern are second on the points table.

Northern, the National T20 champions, are languishing at the bottom of the points table. There have been silver linings, however, for them with their young players putting up impressive performances.

With 383 runs at an average of 54.71, 19-year-old Haider Ali, a Pakistan U19 opener, is Northern’s top-scorer, and third in the list of overall run-getters in this tournament. With 14 dismissals behind the stumps, Rohail Nazir is at the top with Central Punjab’s Kamran Akmal.

Quetta’s Bugti Stadium will host its third four-day match of the season with hosts Balochistan taking on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Both teams will be without their regular captains who will be in Australia by the time the match commences. Imran Farhat will lead Balochistan in Haris Sohail’s absence, while Sahibzada Farhan will fill in for Mohammad Rizwan.

All eyes in this competition will be on Balochistan’s Yasir Shah, who leads the wicket-takers’ chart with 15 scalps. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Ashfaq Ahmed is the highest run-getter of the tournament with 473 runs at a staggering average of 157.66.