KARACHI: An aggressive bowling attack by Zafar Gohar and Kashif Bhatti steered State Bank into the semi-finals of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Silver after defeating KRL by an innings and 47 runs on Tuesday in their last-eight knockout match.
Bilawal Bhatti took four wickets while giving away 45 runs and Gohar picked up 3 for 48 to bowl out KRL on 171 in 48.1 overs of their second innings.
State Bank started the third day on 338-8 and managed to add 46 runs to post 394 in 120.4 overs of their first innings as Salahuddin scored 154. KRL, who were bowled out on 176 when Gohar and Rizwan Haider took four wickets each, were unable to score more than 338 in two innings.
In another match, PIA also cruised into the semi-finals after beating Bahawalpur Stags by six wickets courtesy Najaf Shah and Kamran Sajid’s bowling attack.
PIA resumed their innings on 93-4 with 39 runs required to win the match, a target that was achieved effortlessly by brothers Faisal (52) and Fahad Iqbal (38).
Earlier, Sajid grabbed four wickets in each innings to become the top wicket-taker of the match, while Najaf took three in the first and four in the second innings.
Both winning teams will now face each other in the first semi-final match to be played on Friday.
The remaining quarter-finals
HBL’s Bilal Shifayat scored an unbeaten 201 and Rameez Aziz contributed 80 not out against Hyderabad Hawks as the team declared its second innings after posting a strong total of 423-5.
HBL, who scored 128 in their first innings, resumed their second inning at 86-3 and managed to add 337 runs in their total on day three.
Hawks were batting at 19-2 after five overs of their second innings and require another 266 runs on the final day to win the match.
In the last quarter-final match, brilliant batting by Awais Zia and Haris Ali Khan helped SSGC post a strong total of 373 in their second innings against PTV.
SSGC resumed their second innings at 66-0 and managed to add 307 runs in their second innings as Zia scored 79 and Haris chipped in with 70, while Nawaz Ahmed took three wickets for PTV. SSGC scored 266 in their first innings.
PTV were on 50-2 after 14 overs of play in their second innings, and require another 417 runs to win the match, while SSGC hopes rest on Atif Maqbool who took six wickets in the first innings.
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