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ISLAMABAD, Oct 20 (APP): The third day of the third Quaid-e-Azam Trophy round saw Peshawar bag their second consecutive victory as they rolled over Bahawalpur.
In the other three games, brilliant centuries from U26 batters; Raja Hamza Waheed, Arafat Minhas and Mohsin Riaz promised an exciting end to the round.
Peshawar beat Bahawalpur by eight wickets as they chased the 115-run target in 16 overs with debutant Muhammad Amir Barki scoring a brisk 51-ball 71 not out hitting six fours and five sixes at the Shoaib Akhtar Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi.
Earlier, Iftikhar Ahmed completed his second first-class five-wicket haul (20-2-52-5) by wrapping up Bahawalpur’s second innings to 261 all out from overnight score of 218-7.
Arafat Minhas slammed his maiden first-class century (152 not out, 163b, 22x4s, 3x6s) to hand Multan a mammoth 339-run first innings lead over Faisalabad at the Abbottabad Cricket Stadium.
Multan declared their first innings at 551-9 126 overs after resuming from overnight score of 445-7 in 107.2 overs in reply to Faisalabad’s first dig of 212. No.7 batter Arafat not only bested his previous best of 77 in first-class but also put on a 177-run stand with no.9 batter Ali Usman (63, 110b, 11x4s).
In turn, Faisalabad closed the day three with 223-5 on the board in 66 overs – still lagging 116 runs behind – as no.3 batter Asim Ali Nasir (85 not out, 173b, 12x4s, 1×6) kept their innings intact while wickets fell around him.
Asim and Faisalabad’s previous innings’ top-scorer Ali Shan (11 not out in second innings) – with 95 runs – will be on the crease at the start of day four.
At the Marghzar Cricket Ground, Islamabad required 290 more runs with eight wickets in hand to surmount the mammoth 524-run target set by Abbottabad.
Islamabad inched closer to the massive target courtesy blazing knocks from 19-year-old Raja Hamza Waheed (112 not out, 107b, 15x4s, 3x6s) and first innings centurion Shamyl Hussain (81, 84b, 12x4s, 2x6s) as the duo put on a 124-run stand for the second wicket.
They finished the day three with 234-2 in 43 overs on the board as Mohammad Hammad Khan (27 not out, 43b, 3x4s) held one end after Shamyl’s departure and stitched an unbeaten 83-run stand with Hamza.
Earlier, Abbottabad had declared their innings at 314-9 after resuming from overnight score of 45-1. Skipper Fakhar Zaman (74, 70b, 10x4s, 2x6s), Ahmed Khan (57 not out, 49b, 6x4s, 3x6s), Yasir Khan (56, 80b, 7x4s, 1×6) and
Mohammad Bilal (54, 38b, 6x4s, 3x6s) struck half-centuries to stretch Abbottabad’s first innings gain of 209 runs to 523.
Lahore Whites required 372 more runs to win after they closed they day three with 18-1 in seven overs against Sialkot at the Diamond Cricket Ground in Islamabad.
Earlier, Sialkot’s Mohsin Riaz struck his second first-class century (100 not out, 99b, 15x4s, 1×6), while Mohammad Huraira missed out on his 10th first-class ton by 10 runs (90, 157b, 16x4s) as their team racked up 389-run second innings lead.
Sialkot declared their second innings with 402-7 in 88.3 overs after the game had hung in balance due to a 13-run difference between the first digs of both teams. Apart from Mohsin and Huraira, Sialkot also benefited from the half-centuries of Aashar Mehmood (79, 110b, 12x4s, 1×6) and Ayaz Tasawar (59, 78b, 6x4s, 1×6).
Huraira put on 146 runs with Aashar for the third wicket, while Mohsin and Ayaz collected 130 runs together for the fourth wicket. Lahore’s Ubaid Shah toiled for 20.3 overs to pick three wickets.
Fata reduced Karachi Blues to 67-4 in 30 overs, who were in pursuit of a 296-run target, at the close of play on day three at the Imran Khan Stadium, Peshawar. With skipper Rameez Aziz (10 not out) and night watcher Mohammad Asghar on the crease, Karachi require another 229 runs to win.
Earlier, Fata, who had a healthy 105-run first innings lead – collapsed from 116-2 to 190 all out in 62.4 overs following half-centuries from the opening duo of Mohammad Usman (56, 159b, 6x4s) and Mohammad Farooq (54, 60b, 7x4s, 1×6).
Mohammad Asghar (13.4-3-28-4) and Saqib Khan (20-3-47-4) combined to take eight Fata wickets.