Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2010-11: Karachi Blues beat Faisalabad by 9 wickets, get consolation victory
Karachi Blues defeated Faisalabad by an emphatic margin of 9 wickets in the 11th round of the Quaid e Azam Trophy 2010-11 Division One. Victory of Karachi Blues was led by top-order batsman Rameez Raja who struck an unbeaten hundred in the last
innings of the match to hand over the win to his team. Both the teams are at the bottom of the points table in Division Two, so the result of this match was not that important however this would work as a consolation victory for Karachi Blues.
At the National Stadium, Karachi, Faisalabad won the toss and decided to bat first on a batting-support track. The visitors were off to a good start as they had scored 86 for the loss of only one wicket but then lost their way and were bowled out for a mere
192 runs in the 1st innings. Faisalabad’s team management would have been quite disappointed as majority of the top-order batsmen took starts but failed to carry on. Farrukh Shehzad and Hassan Mehmood remained the top-scorers for the visiting team
with 43 runs each. Farrukh Shehzad faced 86 balls for his knock and struck 7 boundaries. On the other hand, Hassan Mahmood was more sedate in his innings and used up 156 balls in which he struck 6 fours. Test cricketer and Captain http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Naved-Latif-c78900 also scored 29
runs but could not convert his innings into a big one.
Mansoor Ahmed picked up 4 wickets for Karachi Blues whereas http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Babar-Rehman-c47132 took 3 crucial wickets to help his team’s cause.
In reply, Karachi Blues came up with a strong batting performance in their 1st innings and scored 264 runs. As a result, Karachi Blues took a 1st innings lead of 72 runs. Home team had lost 5 wickets for only 107 runs but Rameez Raja
played a responsible knock of 67 runs off just 55 balls with the help of 12 fours. Wicket-keeper batsman Owais Rehmani also contributed with 45 important runs off 100 balls and struck 7 fours in his knock.
Left arm spinner Hassan Mahmood picked up a 5-wicket haul for the visitors. Seasoned fast bowler Ahmed Hayat took 3 wickets whereas http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Nasir-c78728 Hayat and Afaq Khan also claimed a wicket each.
In the 2nd innings, Faisalabad came up with a stronger batting performance but still failed to give a big target to the home team in the last innings. The visitors scored 246 runs in the 2nd innings to give a target of 175 runs to Karachi
Blues. Opener Qiaser Iqbal was the pick of the batsmen for the visiting team as he scored 74 runs of 174 balls with the help of 9 boundaries. Fast bowler http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Ahmed-Hayat-c42319 scored 39 runs batting at number 9 and thus made an important contribution.
New ball bowler http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Tabish-Khan-c92563 took 4 wickets for Karachi Blues and helped his team to gain the advantage. Mansoor Ahmed also picked up a couple of wickets.
Chasing a not so huge yet competitive target, Karachi Blues did not face any trouble and achieved it for the loss of just one wicket. Rameez Raja scored a brilliant hundred and took his team home with 101 runs not out and struck 18 fours and a six. Opener
Asad Baig also scored 51 runs to support his partner.
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