Central Punjab beat Northern by five wickets

KARACHI: Central Punjab defeated Northern by five wickets on the second day of their sixth round fixture of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy (2nd XI) here at KCCA Stadium on Thursday.

After the first day’s play was hit by rain on Wednesday, both teams forfeited their first innings. In their second innings, Northern were folded for only 125 in 51.2 overs with Shoaib Ahmad Minhas scoring 31 off 58 balls. Shoaib struck four fours. Naveed Malik made 22 off 54 balls. Left-arm spinner Asfand Mehran got 5-41, while spinner Kamran Afzal captured 3-41.

Central Punjab reached the target in the 23rd over after losing five wickets. Rizwan Hussain (29) and Fahad Usman (28) batted well. Spinner Farhan Shafiq got 3-37.

Here at NBP Sports Complex, Sindh posted 239 all out after resuming their first innings at 185-5 against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Fahad Iqbal, who was batting on 29 on Wednesday, fell for 44, having struck seven fours from 120 balls. Ramiz Aziz struck 23 off 29 balls, smacking five fours. Mohammad Asghar scored unbeaten 19 off 32 balls with two fours.

Abbas Afridi got 3-39, while Mohammad Sarwar and Asif Afridi claimed two wickets each.

In response, KP were struggling at 188-7 in 56 overs with Sahibzada Farhan fighting a lone battle with excellent 70. The Charsadda-born player hammered 11 fours from 121 balls. Azizullah and Mohammad Asghar got three wickets each.

Here at TMC Ground, Balochistan were folded for 158 in their first innings by Southern Punjab. Taimur Khan struck 55 off 172 balls, smacking three fours and one six. Awais Zia struck 34 off 63 balls with two fours and one six.

Off-spinner Salahuddin (4-37) and left-arm spinner Mohammad Irfan (4-46) were the successful bowlers.

In response, Southern Punjab were 75 without loss with Waqar Hussain batting on 43 and Anas Mustafa on 29.