LAHORE: While Northern leading the table with 59 points and defending champions Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are sitting at the bottom with 22 points, the fourth round of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2022-23 will get underway at three different venues of the country from Saturday (today).
In the fourth round, Northern will take on second-placed Central Punjab at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad; Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will meet fourth-placed Sindh at the Pindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi; and fifth-placed ATF Southern Punjab will take on third-placed Balochistan at the Abbottabad Cricket Stadium in Abbottabad.
After nine matches, three have produced results at two venues with Abbottabad witnessing two of those results. Balochistan surprised Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by 134 runs in the first round action but lost by 10 wickets in the third round match against Northern but not before putting up a strong fight back. Sindh batted whole day against ATF Southern Punjab to hold them for a draw, while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Sahibzada Farhan made the most of a rain-affected match against Central Punjab by notching up his fourth career century. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s spin duo of Khalid Usman and Sajid Khan shared all 10 Central Punjab wickets to slowly warm-up for the upcoming matches.
The competition is also providing an exciting battle between the bat and the ball. To date, 21 centuries have been struck, while the bowlers have picked up six fivers and one 10-fer. After three rounds, Test opener Abdullah Shafique of Central Punjab leads the batting chart with 380 runs from four innings. He is followed by ATF Southern Punjab’s Zain Abbas (352), Tayyab Tahir of Central Punjab (335), Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Sahibzada Farhan (335), Northern’s Faizan Riaz (326) and Waqar Ahmed of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (303).
Mubasir Khan of Northern, who was adjudged the player of the 2021-22 Quaid-e-Azam Trophy, is leading the bowlers table with 15 scalps. Sindh’s mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed is in second place with 11 wickets, which he took in his first appearance of this season’s event against ATF Southern Punjab. He is followed by Central Punjab’s Ahmed Daniyal, Southern Punjab’s Ahmed Bashir and Mir Hamza of Sindh (all 10 wickets apiece).
Meanwhile, three matches in the fourth round Cricket Associations Championship will also commence from Saturday. Central Punjab are on top of the table with two wins from three matches, with 55 points. Southern Punjab and Sindh are on the second and third position, with 51 and 50 points, respectively. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Northern and Balochistan have won one match apiece.
In the fourth round matches, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will square off against Sindh at the KCCA Stadium, Central Punjab will lock horns with Northern at the NBP Sports Complex and Balochistan will meet ATF Southern Punjab at the UBL Sports Complex.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2022