Quaid-e-Azam Trophy : Qualification battle in full swing

Teams fight it out as seventh round begins today

KARACHI: The seventh and final round of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy kicks off today, with four Super-8 berths still up for grabs.

WAPDA sit atop Pool A with five wins and a loss from six matches, having amassed 43 points so far. They are followed by UBL, who have 33 points.

In Pool B, meanwhile, KRL have four wins and two draws and sit top, thanks to their 42-point haul. Behind them are NBP, who have collected 29 points via three win and as many draws.

The four aforementioned teams are guaranteed a place in the next round, but the six teams below them (three each in both the groups) still have everything to play for.

In Pool A, SSGC — who are in third place with 26 points — will target a win or a draw with a first-innings lead when they face UBL as either scenario will be enough to get them through.

SSGC’s Asif Zakir, the tournament’s leading scorer with 503 runs, is targeting a win for the team rather than individual glory. “My focus is always on playing an innings which helps the team win. I don’t score for myself,” he told The Express Tribune.



Fourth-ranked HBL have 21 points and will face WAPDA. The only way through for them is by defeating the group leaders.

A draw with a first-innings lead will get HBL three points but leaves the door open for fifth-placed Lahore Blues and sixth-placed Islamabad, who have 19 and 15 point respectively and face each other.

In Pool B, third-placed SNGPL’s (27 points) prospects for qualification look bright as they face bottom-ranked PIA, who have won just once and have lost five of their matches.

Following SNGPL are FATA and Karachi Whites with 18 points each. The Karachi side will lock horns with sixth-placed Rawalpindi (15 points), whereas FATA’s opponents are seventh-ranked Lahore Whites, who only have nine points to their name.

With 46 wickets under his belt, Tabish Khan is the tournament’s joint leading wicket taker (along with KRL’s Muhammad Abbas), but his brilliance hasn’t reaped a single win for Karachi Blues — something he can’t fathom.

“I have done my work but somehow we have not won anything,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 12^th, 2016.

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