Ninth round of QeA Trophy 2019/20 begins

Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2019/20 is entering the final stages of the competition with all six teams still in the running for the spots in the final. The first day of the round nine matches of the competition began on Monday at various venues of the country where the batsmen took center stage for most of the day.

Southern Punjab vs Sindh:  

Southern Punjab opener, Zeeshan Ashraf scored his first century of the first-class season to put his team in the driving seat against winless Sindh on day-one of the four-day first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy ninth round match at the National Stadium on Monday.

Sohaib Maqsood also produced a classy knock of 81 runs to see Southern reach 344 for five at stumps.

All-rounder, Anwar Ali was the stand out bowler in the day with three for 45 from 16 overs.

Zeeshan, a hard-hitting southpaw scored 133 runs 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 was the third of his first class career. 

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

Joint strong candidates with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to play the final against most likely Central Punjab, Southern lost their inform opener, Sami Aslam (1) early on to Anwar and later Umar Siddiq (27) also fell to young debutant pacer, Shahnawaz Dhani to leave them struggling on 49 for two.

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.

After tea, Sindh captain, Sarfaraz Ahmed got some relief when 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 dismissed Sohaib having him caught by Shehzar Muhammad. In their first meeting in the division one match, Southern had defeated Sindh by an innings at the UBL sports complex.

Balochistan vs Northern:

Balochistan’s Imran Butt scored his third century of the tournament on the opening day of his side’s four-day first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy fixture against Northern at Karachi’s UBL Sports Complex.

The right-handed opener scored 124 runs from 150 balls and led Balochistan’s way to 271 for eight in 84 overs after Northern, the visiting team, decided to not to contest the toss. 

Balochistan negotiated the opening hour without losing any wicket.

Left-arm spinner Nauman Ali and left-arm paceman Sadaf Hussain picked up a wicket each in the latter part of the morning session to have the scorecard reading 114 for two at Lunch.  

Balochistan consolidated in the second session courtesy a high-paced knock by Imran, who smacked 21 boundaries. 

 Imran failed to get the desired support from the other end as the other notable contribution was 32 off 81 balls from his captain Imran Farhat. 

Umar Gul (29) and Mohammad Asghar (0) will resume the Balochistan innings on the second day. 

Nauman and Sadaf were chief destroyers for Northern with three wickets apiece. 

Central Punjab vs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa:

Central Punjab’s spinners spun the web around Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s batsmen on day one of the four-day first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy ninth round fixture at Karachi’s NBP Stadium.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, after winning the toss and electing to bat, were 227 for eight in 90 overs as Zafar Gohar and Bilal Asif shared seven wickets between them. 

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa lost seven wickets for 72 runs with slow left-arm Zafar and off-spinner Bilal returning four for 101 and three for 67.

Openers Sahibzada Farhan (96) and Israrullah (51) provided a steady start as Khyber Pakthunkhwa took Lunch with 70 runs on board without any loss of wicket.

The openers knitted a 97-run partnership before Zafar struck with the ball to trap Israrullah LBW.

Farhan, who struck 11 fours in his 244-ball stay at the crease, and Ashfaq Ahmed (29) crafted a 51-run stand over the course of the afternoon session.

The collapse ensued in the evening session, with the fall of Ashfaq’s wicket, as no Khyber Pakhtunkhwa middle-order batsman entered double-digits.

Aizaz Cheema, who has returned two five-fers in the last two first-class matches, was the other bowler to pick a wicket on the opening day as he denied Farhan his maiden first-class century.

Mohammad Mohsin and Khalid Usman batted at seven each when the day’s play came to end.