Khyber and Central Punjab share trophy: The final match of Pakistan’s premier domestic tournament ended in a thrilling tie.
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During the final match of the recently concluded season of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy between Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Central Punjab in Karachi, both teams were part of a cliffhanger match which couldn’t see a winner even after five grueling days of red-ball cricket.
Chasing a 356-run target, Central Punjab resumed play on Day 5 needing 216 runs with eight wickets in hand. However, not many would’ve expected Khyber to not win the match especially after they had reduced Central Punjab to 249/8.
Central Punjab captain Hasan Ali couldn’t have timed his maiden first-class century better as him single-handedly scoring a quickfire 106* (61) with the help of 10 fours and seven sixes almost won the match for his team.
Having received minimal support from his fellow tail-enders, Ali found solace in using the long handle as brisk run-scoring came to Central Punjab’s rescue.
It was Central Punjab pacer Waqas Maqsood’s (4) attempt of clearing mid-on against Sajid Khan which saw him giving a simple catch to Kamran Ghulam to produce the most unexpected result in the final match of a first-class tournament.
In addition to being declared as the ‘Man of the Match’, Ali also bagged the ‘Man of the Series’ award for picking 43 wickets in nine matches at an average and strike rate of 20.06 and 36.4 respectively.
Khyber and Central Punjab share trophy after final ends in thrilling tie
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