Lahore Blues registered their first win of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy QEAT 2023/24 season with a nine-wicket victory over FATA Region while the rest of the second-round matches failed to produce a result.

FATA started the day at 127-4. They got to 214, before being bowled out by the Imran Butt-led side. A five-wicket-haul by Ali Shafiq was crucial to the Blues’ performance in the innings. Khushdil Shah’s 73 and Mohammad Salman Khan’s 71 were the only fight put up by the FATA side, which otherwise could not steady themselves during the innings. Trailing by just 40 runs, captain Imran Butt scored the bulk of the runs in the last innings ensuring that the game ended in their favour. His 22 runs were supported by nine runs from Umar Siddiq and four runs from Usman Salahuddin before the target was met. Lahore Blues, thus, registered their first win of the season by nine wickets.

Meanwhile, the second-round QEAT match between Lahore Whites and Rawalpindi was drawn, owing to the last day getting washed out by rain. Rawalpindi ended day three at 232-1. However, play could not resume on the last day, owing to heavy rain in Lahore. Play was called off, and the match was drawn. In another second-round fixture of the ongoing QEAT season, Karachi Whites, despite enforcing a follow-on, could not force a result and had to settle for a draw against Faisalabad. Multan and Peshawar too ended up with a drawn game.

At the start of the day, Faisalabad were at 63-6, trailing by 371 runs. Ghulam Mudassar notably bagged a five-wicket haul, which helped the Sarfaraz Ahmed-led side. After the Karachi bowlers bowled them out for 122, a follow-on was enforced. Faisalabad fared better in their second batting innings. They only lost one wicket, and accumulated 103 runs, with Mohammad Huraira, Ali Shan and Ali Waqas contributing to the cause. However, considering that the match had entered the last session, and Faisalabad had nine wickets still in hand, the match was drawn. In the fifth match of the QEAT 2023/23, Multan began their batting on the final day of the rain-impacted game. Trailing by 263, Multan batted through the day to ensure that the deficit between the two teams was reduced, even if a result seemed unlikely.

A 62 by opener Zain Abbas, and later a 70 by Sharoon Siraj helped their cause. However, Peshawar kept counter-attacking by taking periodic wickets. Particularly, four wickets by Abbas Afridi and two wickets by Mohammad Ilyas kept the Multan batting conscious throughout.

Published in The Daily National Courier, September, 20 2023

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