The three-day-long Cricket Association Championship ended with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa beating Balochistan by six wickets at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad while the other two matches, Central Punjab vs Sindh and Southern Punjab vs Northern resulted in a tie.
Khyber Pukhtunkhwa vs Balochistan
Zohaib Khan and Waqar Ahmed hit half-centuries that propelled Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to a six-wicket win against Balochistan. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chased down the 196-run target for the loss of four wickets in the 57th over.
Zohaib unbeaten 73 off 79 balls with six fours and two sixes topped the scoreboard. Meanwhile, Waqar contributed a 151-ball 65, laced with eight fours. Kamran Ghulam was another contributor with the bat with 32 off 79 balls, which included four fours.
Earlier, Balochistan was bowled out for 118 after resuming their second innings on the overnight score of 89 for seven. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Atizaz Habib Khan bagged four wickets for 24 while Ahmed Jamal and Zohaib Khan picked up three wickets each.
Balochistan v Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad
Scorecard
Balochistan 219 all out, 71 overs (Mohammad Shahid 91, Fahad Iqbal 44, Sanaullah 30; Ahmed Jamal 3-30, Niaz Khan 2-37, Zeeshan Ahmad 2-42, Zohaib Khan 2-42) and 118 all-out, 61 overs (Mohammad Javed 25 not out, Ali Waqas 23; Atizaz Habib Khan 4-24, Ahmed Jamal 3-20, Zohaib Khan 3-20)
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 142 all out, 49.3 overs (Niaz Khan 41, Zeeshan Ahmad 31; Mohammad Javed 7-65, Najeebullah Achakzai 2-24) and 201-4, 57 overs (Zohaib Khan 73 not out, Waqar Ahmed 65, Kamran Ghulam 32)
Southern Punjab vs Northern
Elsewhere, Southern Punjab and Northern played out a draw at the Rana Naved Cricket Academy, Sheikhupura.
Resuming their second innings on 21 for no loss of wickets, Northern posted 324 for nine in 81 overs by stumps. Opening batsman Mohammad Huraira scored the highest 120. Coming in at number four, Kashif Iqbal supported Huraira with a 72 off 108 balls, hitting 10 fours. The pair added 97 runs for the third-wicket partnership.
For Southern Punjab, Kaleemullah Khan nabbed five wickets for 44 and ended up with match figures of seven for 78 runs.
Southern Punjab v Northern, Rana Naved Cricket Academy, Sheikhupura
Match Drawn
Northern 329 all out, 81.3 overs (Umar Waheed 132, Mubasir Khan 83; Ali Usman 5-111, Kaleemullah Khan 2-34) and 324-9, 81 overs (Mohammad Huraira 105, Kashif Iqbal 72, Mubasir Khan 30; Kaleemullah Khan 5-44, Mohammad Umair 3-26)
Southern Punjab 336-9 Dec, 75.2 overs (Waqar Hussain 102, Moinuddin 55, Naved Yasin 32, Yousuf Babar 30; Raza Hasan 3-89, Aamir Jamal 2-61)
Central Punjab v Sindh
Central Punjab also drew against the defending champions Sindh at the LCCA ground in Lahore.
On the resumption of their second innings, Central Punjab trailed Sindh by 103 runs. Left-handed batter Ali Zaryab led the way for Central Punjab as they scored 367 for four in 75 overs by the day end. Zaryab posted an unbeaten 153 off 179 balls. The 23-year old struck 18 fours and four sixes. He also shared a 121-run partnership for the second-wicket with Imran Dogar who scored 87 off 152.
Mohammad Irfan Khan hit a quickfire 58 off 55 while Rizwan Hussain also contributed 32 off 28 to the total.
Central Punjab v Sindh, LCCA Ground, Lahore
Match Drawn
Central Punjab 293 all out, 73.5 overs (Imran Dogar 75, Asfand Mehran 71 not out, Nisar Ahmad 48, Mohammad Irfan Khan 42; Imtiaz Legari 4-44, Mohammad Shahid 2-29, Ghulam Mudassar 2-48) and Central Punjab 367-4, 75 overs (Ali Zaryab 153 not out, Imran Dogar 87, Mohammad Irfan Khan 58, Rizwan Hussain 32)
Sindh 396-8, 83 overs (Omair Bin Yousuf 194, Saim Ayub 78, Mohammad Shahid 61; Nisar Ahmad 3-67, Mohammad Faizan 2-35)
2nd round schedule
The second round fixtures of the Cricket Associations Championship will be held between October 3 and October 5.
