Muhammad Babur
Lahore
The race for the top two spots on the six-team points table of the first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy continues to heat up as the country’s premier domestic tournament heads into its second-half from Wednesday.
Following the completion of the fifth round, Southern Punjab, the table-toppers, are tied with Northern on 74 points. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan, ranked third and fourth, respectively, have 67 points each from five matches.
Sindh are placed fifth with 60 points, while Central Punjab, the title defenders, are the only team without a win in the tournament and are placed on the bottom of the table.
The fifth round produced thrilling action with two of the three drawn matches going down the wire. The sixth round promises to further spice up the tournament with the top five teams looking to give their all to accumulate maximum points and Central Punjab eager for resurgence.
Southern Punjab v Northern at UBL Sports Complex: The upcoming round serves an opportunity for both Southern Punjab and Northern to leapfrog each other, in terms of points. At present, a 0.07 net run-rate difference separates the two.
Northern enter the contest after collecting 13 points, the most for any team in the previous round, and will be hoping to turn this into a trend.
They featured in one of the most riveting matches this season has produced when they played out a draw against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Northern would be ruing their inability to dismiss the opposition’s last wicket as Mohammad Wasim Jnr and Arshad Iqbal’s 22-minute-long vigil ensured that Northern settle for five points, instead of 16.
