Daily Times

Under the captaincy of Sarfaraz Ahmed, Karachi Whites secured their fifth Quaid-e-Azam Trophy title after overcoming Faisalabad at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore, prevailing by 456 runs on the final day of the five-day final on Thursday.

Faheem Ashraf, the captain of Faisalabad, was the final batter to be dismissed, caught off the bowling of Ghulam Mudassar, igniting celebrations for the tea, who walked away with a cash prize of Rs10 million.

Karachi Whites’ previous Quaid-e-Azam Trophy victory was in the 2001-02 season when they defeated Peshawar in the final by eight wickets. Prior to that, they achieved a hat-trick of titles in 1990-91, 1991-92, and 1992-93.

Faisalabad resumed from their overnight score of 129-6, with Faheem leading a determined fightback, albeit delaying the inevitable. They lost two wickets during the morning session, with Ali Asfand and Khurram Shahzad falling, and Faisalabad reached lunch at 230-8.

Faheem then reached his fourth first-class century in 119 balls and contributed 57 runs for the ninth wicket with Arshad Iqbal and 51 runs for the final wicket with Mohammad Ali. Faheem was finally dismissed for 147 from 181 deliveries, his career-best score, which included 23 fours and two sixes.

For Karachi Whites, Ghulam Mudassar recorded figures of 3-62, while Shahnawaz Dahani took 2-119. Mir Hamza, Noman Ali, and Asad Shafiq each secured one wicket.

After the round-robin stage of the tournament, Faisalabad had topped the points table, with Karachi Whites in second place. Peshawar’s Sahibzada Farhan led the batting charts with 847 runs in 10 innings and was named the tournament’s best batter.

Saim Ayub of Karachi Whites, for his innings of 203 in the first and 109 in the second, was awarded the player of the final.

Sarfaraz, the captain of the victorious team with 697 runs and 28 dismissals, was named the player of the tournament.

From Faisalabad, Khurram Shahzad (36 wickets in eight matches) and Ali Shan (28 catches and one stumping) were declared the best bowler and best wicket-keeper of the tournament, respectively.