Mubasir, Hammad heroics save Northern

KARACHI: Superb centuries by debutant Mubasir Khan and discarded international Hammad Azam enabled Northern to earn a draw against Sindh in their eighth round fixture of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy (first-class) here at National Stadium on Thursday.

On the fourth and final day, the 18-year-old Rawalpindi-born Mubasir hammered 164 and Hammad struck 145 to help Northern reach 423-6 in their second innings by the end of the game after having faced a first innings deficit of 311 runs.

After resuming the day at 29 without loss, Northern were at one stage reeling at 110-4. However, Mubasir and Hammad added 294 runs for the fifth wicket association to save their team from a looming defeat.

Hammad hit 13 fours and two sixes in his 226-ball, second century of the season. The feat also enabled Hammad to jump to the second place on the batting chart with 787 runs, just 86 runs behind the leader Kamran Ghulam of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa who has scored 873 runs. Mubasir hammered 24 fours in his exquisite 241-ball knock. Medium pacer Shahnawaz Dhani got 3-93, for 6-142 match-haul.

Northern had scored 203 in their first innings. In response, Sindh had posted 514-8 declared.

The draw enabled Northern to move to 111 at the second spot. Sindh jumped to the fifth spot with 79 points, two points behind bottom-placed Balochistan who have 77 points.