Quaid-e-Azam Trophy: Mehdi's six-for helps Multan down AJK

Bowler's demolition job inflicts innings defeat on opponents

KARACHI: A six-wicket haul by Sadaf Mehdi helped Multan Region defeat AJK by an innings and 11 runs in their opening fixture of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Grade 2 tournament at Multan Stadium on Friday.

Trailing by 175 runs, AJK resumed their second innings on 62-7 and were restricted to 126 as Mehdi dismissed six batsmen giving away 39 runs, while Ehtasham Haider and Ali Usman claim two scalps each for 24 and 29 runs respectively. AJK’s top scorer was Abdul Shakoor with a knock of 60 runs.

At Hyderabad's Niaz Stadium, Abbottabad defeated the home side by 302 runs on the last day of their encounter, thanks to a well-balanced effort by their bowling unit.

Trailing by 381 runs, Hyderabad resumed their second innings on 18-1 but lost all their wickets with just 97 runs on the board in 48.4 overs as Nasir Khan, Kamran Ghulam, Ahmed Jamal and Khalid Usman took two wickets each, giving away nil, 10, 26 and 27 runs respectively.

Hyderabad’s prominent scorers were Lal Kumar (26), Muhammad Qazzar (22) and Rizwan Ahmed (21).

At Dring Stadium in Bahawalpur, the host defeated Larkana by seven wickets as Muhammad Imran dismissed three of the visitors' batsmen.

Larkana resumed their second innings on 190-7 and lost their remaining three wickets in 76.3 overs with 226 on board as Imran took three for 54, whereas Adeel Basit, Muhammad Asghar and Imranullah Aslam took two wickets apiece. Asif Babar (93) and Muhammad Urs (62) were Larkana's top two scorers.

Bahawalpur, who had scored 364 in their first innings, chased down the target of 56 runs for the loss of just three wickets in 10.5 overs with the help of Mudasir Nazir, who scored an unbeaten 31 off 52 balls, while Larakana’s Faraz Ahmed took two wickets for 17 runs.

Meanwhile, the match between DM Jamali and Faisalabad at the National Stadium of Karachi ended in a draw. Faisalabad resumed their innings on 13-0 with a lead of 20 runs and were able to score 273-4 before declaring as Ali Rafiq scored 92 runs along with an unbeaten 52 by Khurram Shahzad. Asif Ali also contributed 52 runs, while DM Jamali's Saleem Malik claimed two wickets for 67.

Chasing 281, DM Jamali had reached 59 for the loss of two wickets when the play and the match ended.