In the quaid azam trophy 2023-24 final, Faisalabad found themselves in a challenging position as they pursued an incredibly improbable target of 790 runs, with the dominant Karachi Whites in control.
On day four, Faisalabad began their innings with openers Taimoor Sultan and Mohammad Huraira. Unfortunately, Huraira was dismissed after contributing only five runs from 14 balls, while Taimoor managed to score 31 runs from 73 deliveries before being caught by Sarfaraz Ahmed off the bowling of Noman Ali.
Faisalabad’s wicket-keeper, Ali Shan, added 24 runs from 43 balls to the scoreboard, and the left-handed batter Ali Waqas made a significant contribution with 48 runs from 73 deliveries, just falling two runs short of a half-century.
However, Muhammad Irfan Khan and Asif Ali couldn’t make much of an impact, both scoring in single digits with one-off two and three off 13 balls, respectively, before being dismissed. At the end of the day, Faheem Ashraf and Ali Ashraf were the unbeaten batsmen, with Faheem contributing 15 not out from 29 balls.
On the previous day, Asad Shafiq and Sarfaraz Ahmed continued their innings for Karachi Whites. Asad reached a strong 60, and by the end of day three, Sarfaraz had scored one run from six deliveries.
Asad went on to achieve his 31st first-class century, scoring 100 runs from 201 balls before the lunch break, ultimately taking Karachi Whites’ total to 350 runs in 92 overs. Karachi Whites then declared their innings at 370 for the loss of seven wickets in 98.1 overs.
Sarfaraz concluded his innings at 73 runs from 112 deliveries and emerged as the second-highest run-scorer of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2023-24 with a total of 697 runs in 11 innings. Asad secured the third position after finishing his innings at an impressive 113 runs from 222 balls, taking his total to 670 runs in 13 innings.
In terms of wickets, Khurram Shahzad claimed two for Faisalabad, while Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Ali, and Arshad Iqbal each took one wicket in the second innings.
Summary of scores:
Karachi Whites:
-First Innings: 543 all out, 120.2 overs (Saim Ayub 203, Shan Masood 180; Mohammad Ali 3-63, Arshad Iqbal 3-94, Khurram Shahzad 3-120)
– Second Innings: 370-7 Dec, 98.1 overs (Asad Shafiq 113, Saim Ayub 109, Sarfaraz Ahmed 73; Khurram Shahzad 2-49, Arshad Iqbal 1-41)
Faisalabad:
– First Innings: 124 all out, 35.5 overs (Muhammad Irfan Khan 32, Ali Waqas 27; Mir Hamza 5-44, Shahnawaz Dahani 4-50)
– Second Innings: 129-6, 41.3 overs (Ali Waqas 48, Taimoor Sultan 31; Asad Shafiq 1-9, Noman Ali 1-15, Mir Hamza 1-31)
