Quaid-e-Azam Trophy first-class tournament: Sarfaraz-led Sindh, a real force to reckon with

Pakistan captain Sarfaraz Ahmed will lead a strong Sindh squad in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy first-class tournament that begins on Saturday (September 14) at three venues in the country. Sindh take on Balochistan at Karachi's UBL Sports Complex in their opening fixture. Sindh possess real strength in their batting line-up which includes some domestic cricket stalwarts in Abid Ali, Fawad Alam and Khurram Manzoor besides the seasoned Pakistan Test batsman Asad Shafiq who is also Sarfaraz's deputy, young Saad Ali who made his ODI debut against Australia earlier in the year is another accomplished batsman.
Sindh's opening pair is likely to be Khurram Manzoor and the Lahore-born Abid. In 102 first-class appearances, the 31-year-old Abid has scored 6700 runs at 38.28, the tally includes 17 centuries. Abid scored a century on his debut ODI against Australia in Dubai, becoming only the third Pakistan opener to achieve the feat.
Sindh possess one of the strongest middle-orders in the tournament with Asad, Fawad and Saad backed up by Sarfaraz himself in his role of wicketkeeper-batsman. Asad has featured in 69 Tests for Pakistan scoring 4323 runs at 38.94; he has an abundance of experience in first-class cricket with a total of 138 matches, 8638 runs with 22 centuries.
Sindh's batting is likely to revolve around left-handed Fawad Alam who boasts a 56.08 average from 155 first-class matches in which he has scored 11441 runs with 30 centuries, Fawad scored a century on his Test debut against Sri Lanka in 2009. Sarfaraz will also be a real force with the bat in the lower-order, in 149 first-class matches, Sarfaraz has scored 7623 runs besides 471 catches and 49 stumpings as wicketkeeper. Youngsters Saud Shakeel, Ramiz Aziz, Omair Bin Yousuf and Shehzar Mohammad will provide the batting backup to Sindh.
Sindh's fast bowling will be spearheaded by young pace sensation Mohammad Hasnain who has so far appeared in five ODIs and a solitary T20I for Pakistan, Hasnain who can bowl in the 150kph range is set to be Sarfaraz's trump card along with seasoned bowlers Sohail and Tabish.
Sarfaraz is happy with the balance of his squad and feels Sindh have the talent, skill and experience to with the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2019-20. "It is a balanced squad with some very seasoned players. The first priority would be to make the team gel together. We have some experienced bowlers backed by Mohammad Hasnain, who has the ability to bowl with sustained pace which will be very useful in four-day cricket and it will be an ideal learning curve for him," Sarfaraz said, adding: "We have a very solid batting line-up with Khurram Manzoor, Abid Ali, Saad Ali, Asad Shafiq, Saud Shakeel and Fawad Alam, while Omair Bin Yousuf is also a very promising player. Shehzar did very well last year." "We will take every game as it comes, obviously start is very important and a good start will help us gain some momentum," he added.