Patron’s Trophy Grade II: Faisal’s unbeaten ton gifts trophy to KPT

Despite draw, team wins tournament on the basis of first-innings score

KARACHI: An unbeaten century by Faisal Khan lifted KPT into Grade I Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Silver League on the basis of their first-innings lead after their four-day Patron’s Trophy Grade-II final against Omar Associates ended in a draw at the National Stadium of Karachi on Wednesday.

Given a target of 358 runs, KPT resumed their innings on 21-0 and added 257 runs to their total to end the match in a draw with the help of Faisal scoring 121 runs off 208 balls along with Shah Ali Zafar’s 69 off 157. Anas Mahmood (29) and Nadeem Javed (24) also contributed to the scoreline.

For Omar Associates, star pacer Muhammad Amir was unavailable for the final three days of the contest due to a hamstring injury he picked up on the first day of the final and in his absence, Omar Associates’ bowling suffered as lead bowler Bilal Asif was only able to take 2-115.

Omar Associates coach Nasir Shah said that the condition of pitch was not up to the mark as the bowlers from both teams found it difficult to take wickets. “The pitch was not in favour of the bowlers,” Shah told The Express Tribune. “As you can see that in four days, seven centuries were scored, which is not acceptable in professional cricket.”

He further added that the same pitch that was used in the semi-final should not be used for the final, which had its own importance as the winner would be promoted to Grade I.

 

KPT captain over the moon

KPT captain Hassan Khan credited the win to his team’s performance in the first innings.

“We worked hard in the first innings, which helped us to survive on this pitch. It was a high-scoring match and both teams played really well.”

KPT were awarded Rs200,000 and runners-up Omar Associates bagged Rs100,000, while KPT’s Nadeem Javed was declared the best batsmen of the tournament for his 632 runs and was acknowledged the man of the match for his 190-run knock in the final.

K-Electric’s Shahzeb Ahmed was declared the best bowler and Muhammad Imran of Face Fresh was declared the best all-rounder of the tournament, winning Rs25,000 each.

 

 

 

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