Central Punjab reduce KP to 227-8

KARACHI: Zafar Gohar (4-101) and Bilal Asif (3-67) shared seven wickets to enable leaders Central Punjab to reduce second-placed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to 227-8 in 90 overs on the opening day of their ninth round outing of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy (first-class) here at NBP Sports Complex on Monday.

Sahibzada Farhan (96) and Israrullah (51) provided a steady start to KP as they took lunch with 70 on the board without any loss. The openers knitted a 97-run partnership before Zafar trapped Israrullah leg before. Left-handed Israr hammered six fours from 137 deliveries.

Farhan, who struck 11 fours in his 244-ball stay at the crease, and Ashfaq Ahmed (29) crafted a 51-run stand in the afternoon session. There was a collapse in the evening session with the fall of Ashfaq’s wicket as no KP middle-order batsman entered double figures.

Aizaz Cheema (1-24) denied Farhan his maiden first-class century. Mohammad Mohsin and Khalid Usman were batting on seven each at stumps. Central Punjab have got two points and one more wicket inside the 110-over cut-off will get them the third bowling point. KP have bagged one point for crossing the 200-run mark.

At National Stadium, opener Zeeshan Ashraf scored his first century of the season to put Southern Punjab in driving seat against Sindh. Sohaib Maqsood also produced a classy knock of 81 to see Southern reach 344-5 at stumps.

Anwar Ali got 3-45 from 16 overs. Zeeshan, a hard-hitting batsman, scored 133 in his third match of the division one championship after getting three successive half centuries, including a 94 in the last two rounds. His century on Monday was the third of his first-class career. Ashraf was involved in two century partnerships, with Abdul Rehman Muzammil (49) and Sohaib Maqsood.

His fourth-wicket stand of 115 with Sohaib (81 from 124 balls) put Sindh on the back foot as both took control in the second session after Southern decided to bat first.

Southern lost their in-form opener, Sami Aslam (1) early on to Anwar. Umar Siddiq (27) fell to debutant pacer Shahnawaz Dhani which left them struggling at 49-2. Zeeshan found an able partner in Abdul Rehman (49 from 93 balls) and they steadied the innings with a third-wicket stand of 117 runs going to lunch at 91 for two.

Rehman was snapped up by left-arm spinner Hassan Khan after lunch but Sohaib strode in to take command of the proceedings. Sohaib hit 14 fours.

After tea, both the batsmen were dismissed with Zeeshan going for a big hit to be caught at mid-off by Fawad Alam to give Anwar his second wicket. Anwar also had Sohaib caught by Shehzar Muhammad.

Here at UBL Sports Complex, Imran Butt hammered a solid 124 to single-handedly guide Balochistan to 271-8 in 84 overs in their first innings at close against Northern. The 23-year-old Lahore-born opener smacked 21 fours in his 150-ball ninth first-class hundred.

Umar Gul was batting on 29 when bails were drawn. Spinner Nouman Ali (3-80) and left-arm experienced pacer Sadaf Hussain (3-57) bowled with authority.