KARACHI: Promising fast bowler Ali Raza recorded his maiden 10-wicket haul in first-class cricket on Saturday to help Sialkot dismiss Peshawar for 159 in their second innings on the third day of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy final here at the UBL Sports Complex.

At stumps, Sialkot were 114 runs away from winning the title with five wickets in hand.

Resuming their second innings at the overnight score of 5-0, Peshawar could only post a meagre total of 159 in 59.5 overs thanks to Ali’s pace bowling heroics.

The tall right-armer, playing his second first-class match, bagged seven wickets for 48 runs in 14 overs. The 16-year-old bowler ended-up with excellent match figures of 10 for 110.

Sialkot captain Amad Butt, who took four wickets in the first innings, claimed two wickets in the second to give support to Ali from the other end.

For Peshawar, opening batter Maaz Sadaqat showed some resistance with the bat with a 79-ball 57, which included seven fours and a six. Mehran Ibrahim (32 off 69), Zubair Khan (28 off 95) and Mohammad Amir

Khan (13 not out) were the other batters to reach double figures.

Chasing a modest-looking target of 173, Sialkot lost half of their side with 55 runs on the board and were 59 for five in 15 overs when stumps were drawn.

Peshawar’s right-arm fast bowler Niaz Khan, who picked up five wickets for 61 in the first innings, took four wickets for 20 runs in eight overs.

Meanwhile, Peshawar player Nabi Gul was handed a three-match ban after he was found guilty of a Level 3 breach of the PCB Code of Conduct for players during the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy final.

The 26-year-old Nabi was found to have violated the Article 2.15 (a) of the Code of Conduct, which relates to attempting to gain an unfair advantage during a match.

The incident occurred on Friday when Nabi claimed a catch despite clearly dropping the ball in the 73rd over of Sialkot’s first innings.

On-field umpires Faisal Khan Aafreedi and Rashid Riaz levelled the charge with the help of TV umpire Imran Jawed. Match referee Iqbal Sheikh imposed the sanction.

Nabi pleaded guilty to the charge hence no further hearing was required.

SCOREBOARD

PESHAWAR (1st Innings) 258

SIALKOT (1st Innings) 245

PESHAWAR (2nd Innings, overnight 5-0):

Sahibzada Farhan c Waleed b Amad 5

Maaz Sadaqat c Afzal b Ali 57

Israrullah c Mohsin b Amad 6

Nabi Gul lbw Ali 3

Mehran Ibrahim lbw Ali 32

Zubair Khan lbw Ali 28

Abuzar Tariq c Waleed b Ali 4

Sajid Khan c Afzal b Ali 8

Niaz Khan c Hamza b Ali 0

Mohammad Amir not out 13

Hilal Ahmed c Afzal b Shoaib 0

EXTRAS (LB-2, NB-1) 3

TOTAL (all out, 59.5 overs) 159

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-15; 2-23; 3-43; 4-82; 5-117; 6-133; 7-145; 8-145; 9-148

BOWLING: Shoaib 19.5-3-36-1 (1nb), Amad 23-6-66-2, Ali 14-4-48-7, Shahzaib 3-1-7-0

SIALKOT (2nd Innings):

Ashir Mehmood c Abuzar b Niaz 8

Azan Awais b Niaz 19

Mohammad Huraira lbw Amir 18

Mohsin Riaz c Israrullah b Niaz 0

Mohammad Waleed lbw Niaz 1

Ahsan Hafeez not out 0

Amad Butt not out 0

STILL TO BAT: Shahzaib Bhatti, Hamza Nazar, Shoaib Akhtar, Afzal Manzoor

EXTRAS (B-8, LB-5) 13

TOTAL (for five wickets, 15 overs) 59

FALL OF WICKETS: 1-14; 2-35; 3-35; 4-51; 5-55

BOWLING: Niaz 8-3-20-4, Amir 6-1-26-1, Sajid 1-1-0-0

Published in Dawn, January 5th, 2025