Quaid-e-Azam Trophy- 9th Round Recap
Karachi Blues versus Islamabad
The Karachi Blues recorded their first win in the ongoing Quaid-e-Azam Trophy as they trounced Islamabad by a significant margin of 121 runs at the Diamond Cricket Club Ground, Islamabad. It was a great all-round performance by the visitors as they did well
in terms of both batting and bowling.
The Blues put up a competent score on the board, setting 210 runs to win. In pursuit, Islamabad failed to make an impact with the bat as they were rattled by the top-class seam bowling from the visitors, capitulating for 89 runs, in the process.
It has been a trend since the start of the tournament that every domestic team that wins the toss, forces the opposition to bat first. The visiting side scored a decent 237-run first innings total. On a wet pitch, in start of their innings, they played
sedately as the openers jogged for their first 37 runs.
The opener, Asad Baig scored a resolute 34 runs as he had to negate the lateral movement off the pitch. Murtaza Majeed looked decent for his 38-run innings, though he wasn’t able to convert his able start into a big score.
The best partnership of the innings was between Majeed and Saeed Bin http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Nasir-c78728 and in doing so, the pair gathered 78 runs between them to anchor their team to a comfortable position.
Nasir played a captains knock as he amassed 64 runs, defiantly. The lower order struggled with the bat as Karachi lost their last five wickets in space of just 46 runs.
Bowling for Islamabad was competent as they bowled on a lively wicket. Seam bowlers did the job for their team as they scalped nice wickets between them. http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Rauf-c84151 Akbar was the pick of the bowlers for the home team as he registered brilliant figures of 3/28
in his 12 overs.
The hosts displayed a better show in their first innings as their gritty batting performance earned them a 49-run lead. They were off to disastrous start and lost their first three wickets in space of just 48 runs. In addition, the wickets fell in regular
intervals and the scorecard read 104 runs for the loss of five wickets.
However, http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Nauman-Masood-c78862 and Imad Wasim mustered an 84-run resolute partnership in order to coast their team to a comfortable position. In the process, Masood remained the top scorer for his team, amassing 66 runs. Wasim played an aggressive knock in order
to baffle the opposition, scoring 56 runs at a superb strike rate of 70. Rauf’s late order 47-run spark came off just 55 balls and it ensured his team a considerable lead.
It was a modest bowling performance from the Blues as they needed 73 overs to bowl the opposition out. However, apart from http://www.senore.com/Cricket/Tabish-Khan-c92563 every other bowler chipped in with crucial wickets. Adding to this, Babar Rehman’s persistent medium pace bowling earned
him marvellous figures of 3/55.
Trailing by 49 runs, the touring team responded in a better way as they posted a competitive 258-run total. At the same time, the only half-century of the innings came off the blade of Atif Ali.
Second time around, Imad was the top performer with the red cherry for Islamabad as he registered amazing figures of 3/20.
A modest target of 210 runs should have been a walk in the park, however, it was the other way around as the home team lost the match by 121 runs. All the batsmen failed to make an impression with bat as the top score for Islamabad was 20 runs.
Akbar-ur-Rehman was the surprise package for the Blues as the part time medium pacer bowled brilliantly, finishing off the opposition innings in style. His figures were 3/5 in 7 economical overs. In the start, Tabish Khan and Rumman Raees scythed through
the opposition top order as the duo claimed five wickets between them, gifting Karachi their first win.
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