Quaid-e-Azam Trophy fifth round begins today

LAHORE: The fifth round action of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2022-23 will commence from Friday today at three different venues of the country with Northern leading the table with 68 points. Defending champions Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are sitting at the bottom with 26 points.

In the fifth round, Northern will take on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa at the Abbottabad Cricket Stadium. At the Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi, fourth-placed Balochistan will take on second-placed Sindh. The third fixture of the round will be a Punjab derby, Central Punjab – who occupy the third spot – will take on fifth-placed Southern Punjab.

Central Punjab’s right-handed batter Tayyab Tahir leads the batting chart with 449 runs from four matches at an average of 112.25. Tayyab has struck three centuries, which included 39 fours and 11 sixes.

Tayyab’s teammate Abdullah Shafique, who has represented Pakistan in 11 international matches, is second on the batting chart, scoring 412 runs from four outings in the tournament at an average of 82.40. Abdullah has till date struck one century and two half-centuries in the tournament. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Sahibzada Farhan and Northern’s Faizan Riaz are the other two batters to score 400 runs in the competition so far.

In the bowling chart, Sindh’s mystery spinner Abrar Ahmed leads the roster with 20 scalps from two matches. He has one four-fer and three five-fers from the four innings with six for 100 being his best figures in an innings this season. He was the standout bowler for Sindh in their comprehensive 10-wicket win over Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the fourth round match at the Pindi Cricket Stadium. Abrar’s teammate left-arm fast Mir Hamza occupies the third spot with 13 wickets from three matches. Between Abrar and Hamza is Northern’s right-arm off-spinner Mubasir Khan, who has taken 17 wickets from four games including a four-fer.

Meanwhile, three matches in the fifth round of Cricket Associations Championship will also be played from tomorrow at three different venues in Karachi. Central Punjab continue to lead the points table with 75 points, bagging three wins from four outings. They will take on fourth-placed Southern Punjab at the NBP Sports Complex. Second-placed Sindh (59 points) will square off against third-placed Balochistan (55 points) at the KCCA Stadium.