Bureau Report
Karachi: Central Punjab (CP)’s skipper Hasan Ali almost took the match away from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) but Sajid Khan bagged the last batter Waqas Maqsood to help his team finish Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2020-21 final in a draw. It was Hasan who stolen the limelight on the final day by scoring his maiden First-Class century, making a strong chance for defending champions CP to win the tournament. The skipper remained not out for 106 runs off 61 balls with the help of 10 boundaries and seven sixes.
He and Ahmed Safi Abdullah (35) scored 70 runs together for the ninth-wicket partnership to put CP in the driving seat after joining hands at 249-8. Usman Salahuddin was the other prominent contributor from CP as he kept his nerves calm on Day 4 and consolidated a 51-runs partnership with Mohammad Saad to help his team finish the second last day at 140-2. Arshad Iqbal of KPK picked up an early wicket on the last day to give a breakthrough to his team. He removed Saad who walked off after scoring 27 runs.
Sajid Khan bagged four wickets to finish the tournament as the highest wicket-taker with 67 wickets. Arshad took three wickets, Irfanullah Shah bagged two while Sameen Gul took a wicket for KPK. KPK’s Kamran Ghulam broke the record of scoring most runs in a single First-Class season with 1249 runs in 11 matches including 5 centuries and as many half-centuries. He surpassed Saadat Ali who had scored 1,217 in the 1983-84 season. Hasan Ali bagged the man-of-the-final award for scoring a century and taking five wickets. Rehan Afridi was named best wicket-keeper of the tournament for dismissing 35 batters.
