KARACHI:Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Kamran Ghulam and Central Punjab’s Ali Zaryab scored centuries on the opening day of the eighth round of the first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy on Monday.
Kamran’s excellent run of form continued as the 25-year-old right-handed batsman recorded his third century in as many matches with a brilliant 145 not out against Southern Punjab at the UBL Sports Complex. He is now the only batsman to cross the 800-run mark and has the most number of centuries in the ongoing season.
Kamran had arrived at the crease when Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were two wickets down for 37 runs after their captain Khalid Usman had elected to bat after winning the toss. He stitched a 48-run stand for the third wicket with opener Israrulllah, who missed out on what would have been his career’s 29th half-century by a run, before a solid 211-run undefeated stand with Adil Amin (76 not out off 172 balls, six fours and two sixes) lifted Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to 296 for three by the close of play.
To date, Kamran has smashed 19 fours and a six from the 249 balls he has faced.
The three wickets were shared between Aamir Yamin, Salman Ali Agha and Zahid Mahmood.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the table-toppers, gained two batting points from the first day’s play, while third-ranked Southern Punjab managed only one bowling point.
Ali Zaryab became the first Central Punjab batsman in the 2020-21 season to score a first-class century as the opener smashed 117 to help his side post 297 for six against Balochistan at the State Bank Stadium.
Following his captain Hasan Ali’s decision to bat, the 21-year-old put a solid 165-run alliance for the second wicket with Usman Salahuddin, who scored his fifth half-century in the season with a 162-ball 73 (10 fours) after Muhammad Akhlaq (19), his opening partner, was sent back to the pavilion by Gohar Faiz with 36 runs on board.
Ali crunched 18 fours and a six in his 178-ball stay at the crease.
The other notable batting performance came from Mohammad Saad who made 45 before he was trapped in front by spinner Jalat Khan, who took three wickets for 92 runs.
Off-spinner Raza-ul-Hasan accounted for Ali and Qasim Akram (seven) as he took two wickets for 62 runs.
Wicketkeeper-batsman Ali Shan (28 not out) and Bilawal Iqbal (one not out) will resume Central Punjab’s innings on Tuesday. To date, both teams have bagged two points each.
At the iconic National Stadium and in front of broadcast cameras, bottom-placed Sindh produced a stellar bowling performance to bowl out second-ranked Northern for 203 in 68.2 overs and pocket five bowling bonus points.
Pacers Azizullah, Shahnawaz Dhani and Mir Hamza equally shared nine wickets while the remaining batsman was dismissed by leg-spinner Abrar Ahmed.
That Northern were able to crawl beyond the 200-run mark was due to half-centuries by Mohammad Nawaz and wicketkeeper-batsman Jamal Anwar.
Nawaz posted his fifth half-century of the season with the innings top-score of 79, which included 10 fours, while Jamal made a 72-ball 51, a knock which was studded with six fours and two sixes.
In reply, Sindh, on the back of Sharjeel Khan’s unbeaten 32, had posted 40 for one. The left-handed opener will be joined by Azizullah (two not out) when play resumes on the second morning of the match.
Northern bagged only one point from their batting innings.