Quaid e Azam Trophy 2022: Zain Abbas hits his seventy FC century, Abrar Ahmed claims his second 10fer

Southern Punjab opener Zain Abbas scored his seventh career century and mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed recorded his second 10-wicket haul in a match for Sindh as their Quaid-e-Azam Trophy encounter entered into an exciting stage at the Pindi Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.

Zain, playing his 74^th first-class match and starting the day at 48 in Southern Punjab’s 77 for three, was dismissed after scoring 138 as his side collected 283 after having already secured a 97-run first innings lead.

When stumps were drawn for the third day, Sindh, chasing 381 for victory, were 57 for no wicket. Saim Ayub (43 not out) and Khurram Manzoor (14 not out) will resume their innings on Wednesday morning, with their side needing another 324 for an outright win.

Zain batted for just under six hours during which he received 195 balls out of which 13 were converted into fours and two into sixes. Zain added 85 runs for the fifth wicket with Umar Siddiq (42) after Southern Punjab had slipped to 114 for four.

Sindh’s Abrar Ahmed continued his top form when he followed up his first innings figures of 37.3-10-94-5 with 31.5-3-100-6 for match figures of 11 for 194. The 23-year-old’s career-best remains 11 for 63 against Balochistan at the UBL Sports Complex in Karachi in November 2021.

Abrar, whose overnight figures were one for 29 in his eighth first-class match, accounted for Zain Abbas, Salman Ali Agha (13), Sharoon Siraj (17), Muhammad Imran Randhawa (11), Mohammad Abbas (16) and Ahmed Bashir (0).

Scores in brief:

Sindh vs Southern Punjab at the Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi

Southern Punjab (overnight 259-7) 278 all-out, 94.3 overs (Usman Salahuddin 89, Umar Siddiq 47, Ali Usman 42, Mohammad Ilyas 39; Abrar Ahmed 5-94, Mohammad Umar 2-51, Mir Hamza 2-52) and (overnight 77-3) 283 all-out, 85.5 overs (Zain Abbas 138, Umar Siddiq 42, Ali Usman 26 not out; Abrar Ahmed 6-100, Ghulam Mudassar 2-59, Mir Hamza 2-64)

Sindh 181 all-out, 50.2 overs (Mohammad Umar 59, Saad Khan 36, Fawad Alam 32; Mohammad Ilyas 5-50, Ahmed Bashir 3-31, Mohammad Abbas 2-41) and 57-0, 17 overs (Saim Ayub 43 not out, Khurram Manzoor 14 not out)

First innings points – Southern Punjab 8 (2 batting points, 3 bowling, extra bowling bonus points 3); Sindh 4 (3 bowling points, extra bowling bonus point 1)