Fawad Alam hits double ton, Sarfraz Ahmed cracks hundred as Sindh post 486

KARACHI: Fawad Alam (211) hammered a double hundred and skipper Sarfraz Ahmed (131) blasted his first century of the season to enable Sindh post 486 all out in their first innings in response to Southern Punjab’s total of 517-9 declared here at National Stadium on Wednesday.

On the third day of their ninth round outing of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy (first-class), Fawad, who resumed at his overnight score of 60, was seen in his best element on Wednesday as he romped to a fantastic double ton which also enabled him to achieve the milestone of scoring 12,000 runs in his 164th first-class game.

The 32-year-old left-hander, who last played a Test way back in 2009 against New Zealand, put on 278 runs for the fifth-wicket stand with Sarfraz who smashed 13 fours in his 174-ball brilliant first century of the season.

Earlier, Fawad, who hammered 25 fours in his 309-ball marathon knock lasted for 444 minutes, added 116 runs for the fourth wicket association with Saad Ali who chipped in with 60 which featured eight fours.

Bilawal Bhatti was the top performer for Southern Punjab as he picked 4-82 in 21 overs. Left-arm spinner Mohammad Irfan got 2-129.

Southern Punjab, after taking 31-run lead, will begin their second innings on the last day on Thursday (today). The game is seemingly going towards a draw. Both teams took five bonus points for batting as they scored 400 plus in their 110 overs.

Meanwhile, here at the NBP Sports Complex, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa put themselves close to their second successive win as they reduced Central Punjab to 13-4 thanks to Usman Shinwari’s fiery spell, while chasing a stiff target of 325.

KP had entered the contest on the back of a comprehensive win over Balochistan — by a margin of an innings and 12 runs — and the second-ranked side are on the verge of handing Central Punjab, the table-toppers, their first defeat of the season.

Usman bowled Salman Butt (2), night-watchman Aizaz Cheema (4) and Ahmed Shehzad (0), who registered a pair to take three wickets for two runs in 2.2 overs before stumps were drawn.

Earlier in the session, KP, who had taken 127-run lead, declared their second innings at 197-7. In response to KP’s 355 first innings total, Central Punjab resumed their innings at 154-5 with experienced Kamran Akmal and Rizwan at the crease.

Both batsmen failed to make any further contributions as Kamran (39) added only one run to his overnight score, while Rizwan (9) couldn’t add another run to his tally. Usman Qadir’s unbeaten 58-ball 32, featuring two fours and a six, was the only notable performance.

Sajid took 3-55, while Khalid Usman added another scalp to his wickets’ column to return with 4-67. KP added another three points to their tally for dismissing the oppositions inside the 110-over cut-off after gathering two points in their first innings for scoring 308 for eight in the 110-over cut-off.

Central Punjab could add only one point in their account for being in the first slab (between 200-249) of runs for the batting points. They had bagged two bowling points earlier in the match.

Khyber Pakthunkhwa’s second innings was driven by Israrullah (40), Sahibzada Farhan (36) and Zohaib Khan (31 not out). Israrullah and Farhan cracked five fours each, while Zohaib smashed two fours in the 40 balls he faced.

Central Punjab’s Zafar Gohar once again starred with the ball as he picked four wickets, finishing with eight wickets in the match. The responsibility of saving Central Punjab from a defeat now rests on Mohammad Saad (1*) and Umar Akmal (0*) who will resume their innings on Thursday (today).

Balochistan were in deep trouble against Northern here at the UBL Sports Complex. After having conceded a 42-run lead, Balochistan were gasping at 189-8 in their second innings, for a lead of only 147 runs with just two wickets in hand.

Imran Farhat (55) and Akbar-ur-Rehman (41) left some impression. Stumper Bismillah Khan was batting on 32.

Spinner Nauman Ali (4-62) and Waqas Ahmed (3-54) did the main damage.

Earlier, in response to Balochistan’s first innings total of 300, Northern resumed their first innings at 297-5 and were skittled out for 342 in 86.2 overs. Sarmad Bhatti (86) and Jamal Anwar (93) added 112 for the sixth wicket stand.

Left-arm medium pacer Taj Wali got 6-89, while Umar Gul claimed 2-61.