Karachi Blues outfoxed defending champions Sialkot by a thumping 218-run margin in the final of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy to claim their 22nd title in the historic tournament here at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium on Friday.
The tournament winners grabbed the prestigious trophy and cash award of PKR 7.5 million, while Sialkot got PKR 4 million for their runners-up campaign.
Player of the final, Abdullah Fazal, was awarded 100k, best bowler Ali Usman and best batter, wicket-keeper and player of the tournament Saad Baig got 250k each for the three individual awards.
Chasing an insurmountable 533-run target, Sialkot began their day from 12 for no loss and were bundled out for 314 in 71.1 overs.
Wicketkeeper-batter Afzaal Manzoor, Abdullah Shafique and Hamza Nazar scored half-centuries, but pacer Saqib Khan’s third five-wicket haul in the tournament handed Karachi a memorable win under Saud Shakeel.
Saqib – who finished the tournament with 47 poles in nine matches behind leading wicket-taker Ali Usman (48) – drew the first blood on day five as he broke the budding 35-run opening stand between Mohammad Hurraira (39) and Azan Awais (11).
Abdullah Shafique (58) formed a 46-run stand with Hurraira, and then a 40-run stand with Abdul Rehman (18) before Karachi Blues struck on regular intervals to reduce defending champions to 144-5 in 38.2 overs.
At this juncture, Afzaal (63) and Hamza (56) got together to stall the imminent as they faced 107 balls to gather 112 runs for the sixth-wicket. Rameez Aziz dismissed Afzaal in the 57th over as Sialkot lost five wickets for 58 runs.
Saqib returned match figures of 9-165 in the 44 overs he sent down across both innings. Mushtaq Ahmed and Ramiz picked up two wickets each.
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