Bureau Report
Karachi: Usman Salahuddin (51*) and Mohammad Saad (27*) held Central Punjab (CP) strongly as they finished the second last day of the Quaid-e-Azam (QeA) Trophy’s final at 140-2 against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), with 216 more runs behind to win the tournament.
Defending champions CP covered a long and tough journey this year to reach the final, Usman and Saad made efforts to save their team’s struggle throughout. Joining hands at 89-2, Usman and Saad held their nerves calm and gently played the twilight phase of the day, scoring 51 runs together for the third wicket partnership.
Usman remained not out for 51 off 142 balls while Mohammad Saad remained not out for 27 with only two boundaries in his account.
Arshad Iqbal and Sajid Khan, the tournament’s highest wicket-taker so far, took a wicket each for KPK.
Earlier, KPK were bowled out for 312 runs after getting the first-inning lead of 43 runs. Kamran Ghulam scored 108 runs, becoming the highest run-scorer in a single First-Class season ever with 1249 runs in 11 matches.
