Central Punjab defeat Northern by an innings and 16 runs to win the final of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy

[Titan24]

Zafar Gohar will struggle at international level.

Nauman Ali is not ideal but an upgrade over Yasir Shah. Sajid Khan is another option.

Our spinning options are dire

Yes especially the young ones. Other than Umer Khan no one has appeared in recent times. Abdullah Shafi is a decent talent and so are one or two guys from U 19 and good thing is they can all bat too but they are sometime away from test ready and that too if they develop well and mostly SLAs and not any mystery spinner or something. Though even a decent and accurate SLA could be good for Pak national team, Abdur Rehman was the last one who actually made some impact and was pretty good even in NZ.

 

[squanchy]

The fact that you rate Ehsan Adil and Fahrenheit Ashrafs bowling tells me everything about how much you understand Pakistan domestic cricket

Yeah, it's a better idea to drop Ashraf - who performed abroad and in domestic - for T20 legend Muhammad Musa.

Also a great idea to persist with Yasir Shah, averaging 100 in SENA rather than Shadab Khan who showed promise in South Africa and England.

 

[Abdullah]

A bowling alk rounder needs to average 28-32 with the bat is Faheem good enough to average even near that?

I think it's ok if your number 8 Avgs 20-25
He played a decent hand at lord's with shadab to put our lead to a winnable one. That was the template

 

[squanchy]

Zafar Gohar will struggle at international level.

Nauman Ali is not ideal but an upgrade over Yasir Shah. Sajid Khan is another option.

Our spinning options are dire

We have prospects but then they get lost - why is Shadab Khan not playing more FC cricket? An average of 38 in SENA is a good start to a career... not to mention his three half centuries.

 

[squanchy]

People are talking about Faheem Ashraf as if he's supposed to be the next Stokes. Why not compare him with the likes of Musa and Shinwari. Surely he should be ahead of those two in the pecking order on his bowling alone.

 

[Abdullah]

A bowling alk rounder needs to average 28-32 with the bat is Faheem good enough to average even near that?

I think it's ok if your number 8 Avgs 20-25
He played a decent hand at lord's with shadab to put our lead to a winnable one. That was the template

 

[shah_1]

We have prospects but then they get lost - why is Shadab Khan not playing more FC cricket? An average of 38 in SENA is a good start to a career... not to mention his three half centuries.

He is playing BPL

 

[shah_1]

Apart from India and lyon

The test spinners are dying, destroyed by T20 cricket.

 

[shah_1]

Yes especially the young ones. Other than Umer Khan no one has appeared in recent times. Abdullah Shafi is a decent talent and so are one or two guys from U 19 and good thing is they can all bat too but they are sometime away from test ready and that too if they develop well and mostly SLAs and not any mystery spinner or something. Though even a decent and accurate SLA could be good for Pak national team, Abdur Rehman was the last one who actually made some impact and was pretty good even in NZ.

What is with the fascination of them batting?

Just be good spinners, we already have likes of Nawaz, Imad and Shadab.

 

[ZamanFan]

Awesome fight back by Faizan Riaz and Rohail Nazir. Zeeshan Malik and Faizan Riaz have been the dynamic duo of this season's Quaid e Azam trophy as well as their team. Rohail also has shown he is a great prospect for the national side as batsman-wicket keeper.

Central Punjab looks like Inzamam's dream team minus his nephew, the people he selected and lobbied hard for( in his 3.5 years tenure), to be included in the Pakistan XI are in this side. Starting from convicted Butt, Ahmed Shehzad, the Akmals, Bilal Asif, Muhammad Saad in reserve, etc...

 

[Bewal Express]

Zeeshan missed a golden opportunity to push his name into the national reckoning. His methodology seems too close to the impulsiveness of Imran Nazir and needs to reign it in if he isn't to become another what could have been.

 

[Junaids]

He was given a chance because he was in our T20i squad and the PCB didn't want to call a bench warmer solely for the test matches so they just used Musa.

Unfortunately it’s much worse than that.

Misbah supposedly dropped him from the Test squad after Australia, but actually had him with the team for the Tests at Rawalpindi and Karachi.

It’s pretty obvious that Musa Khan is a pet Misbah project.

 

[Junaids]

What is with the fascination of them batting?

Just be good spinners, we already have likes of Nawaz, Imad and Shadab.

The problem is that Misbah teams always have the same two problems:

1. He picks four Number Elevens as his entire bowling attack, so 6 out is All Out every time Pakistan bats.

2. He thinks that four specialist bowlers will take 20 wickets in every Test, even though a bowling attack of Imran Khan, Wasim Akram, Waqar Younis and Saqlain Mushtaq statistically would only take 18 wickets.

In the real world, unless you have the current Aussie attack you need 5 bowlers to take the wickets.

And unless you want to take the Misbah approach even further, with Five Number Elevens, you need two of your five bowlers to be reliable batsmen.

 

[Ahmed4472]

Unfortunately it’s much worse than that.

Misbah supposedly dropped him from the Test squad after Australia, but actually had him with the team for the Tests at Rawalpindi and Karachi.

It’s pretty obvious that Musa Khan is a pet Misbah project.

The main purpose of keeping him in the squad was that the FC season bar the Final match was over at the time Pakistan played Sri Lanka. Only thing Musa could do was to go home and do nothing, which is not better than spending time with the PCT and polish his bowling in the nets and dressing room.

 

[Junaids]

So the lessons from Day 1 are important!

1. Musa Khan has been promoted far beyond his ability.

2. Rohail Nazir should be in every Test squad, firstly as back-up for Rizwan, secondly to allow him to bat day in, day out against the best bowlers.

3. Faheem Ashraf is an important missing link in the Test team. Pakistan generally needs five bowlers to take 20 wickets, and Faheem is better than most of the current Test bowlers and can bat at Number 8.

4. As always, we see that Salman Butt is a better batsman than Azhar Ali, Umar Amin and Ahmed Shehzad. That’s why he was established in the team before his fixing disgrace. He’s too old to bring back, but the gulf in class (batting class) between him and Azhar Ali remains embarrassing.

 

[MenInG]

Day 2: Salman Butt on a solid 74* and Azhar Ali 23* as Central Punjab reach 119/1 (lead 135) in reply to Northern's 254 in the final of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy (Picture credit PCB)

 

[Abdullah719]

Babar batting, now is the time to tune in...

 

[MenInG]

 

[Usman Chadda]

Sadaf Hussain, the champion first-class cricketer, going at 4.15 RPO. I remember the hue and cry back in the day for his inclusion

 

[MenInG]

Pictures from Day 2 (so far) from PCB

Spoiler

 

[Junaids]

The Azhar Ali situation is really depressing.

He is in the same form as he was before he left the QEA for the series in Australia.

He is grinding out big but slow innings on flat wickets against moderate Pakistani bowlers.

But the last four Test series that he has played outside Asia, he’s been unable to average even 20.

He wasn’t out of form in Australia. He had been averaging 70 in the QEA.

 

[MenInG]

Babar Azam fifty pictures from PCB

Spoiler

 

[Abdullah719]

Babar out for 69. Got a bit too relaxed out there, airy shot. Misses out on making a big score.

 

[Green Patriot]

Gone Babar , 69.

 

[ameemlutfi]

Sadaf's action seems dodgy as well.

 

[Xoib]

Sadaf is terrible no pace very inaccurate and awful action. We blame our selectors a lot but here they made the right call were not duped by performances on pooor tracks with poor balls. If he had played he would have made tanvir Ahmed look like pat cummins.

 

[Junaids]

Sadaf's action seems dodgy as well.

Not as dodgy as his pace!

The switch to the Kookaburra ball has made the likes of Azhar and Salman Butt look like Ricky Ponting and Graeme Smith. The cricket is painfully boring to watch.

But at least it has exposed the mediocre trundlers.

 

[D12og]

Not as dodgy as his pace!

The switch to the Kookaburra ball has made the likes of Azhar and Salman Butt look like Ricky Ponting and Graeme Smith. The cricket is painfully boring to watch.

But at least it has exposed the mediocre trundlers.

So This goes like that:

Kookaburra Exposes our trundlers

And Grace Exposes our rubbish batsmens .

 

[MenInG]

Azhar Ali hundred in pics (credit PCB)

Spoiler

 

[MenInG]

 

[Markhor]

Not as dodgy as his pace!

The switch to the Kookaburra ball has made the likes of Azhar and Salman Butt look like Ricky Ponting and Graeme Smith. The cricket is painfully boring to watch.

But at least it has exposed the mediocre trundlers.

Think you got to go either Flat Pitches + Dukes Ball or Sporting Pitches + Kookaburra.

Otherwise a flat pitch and a Kookaburra is the kiss of death for a FC match.

 

[shah_1]

Think you got to go either Flat Pitches + Dukes Ball or Sporting Pitches + Kookaburra.

Otherwise a flat pitch and a Kookaburra is the kiss of death for a FC match.

Couldn't have said it better. Slow pitch and Koorkaburra balls = batsmen with short pitch bowling problem will love it

 

[Xoib]

Pitch for test match was very good I dont know why it was not reproduced here

 

[Omer2002]

Pitch was never good just the first day as we left some grass on it...it turned into a pancake afterwards why do you think we scored 4 centuries..
It was Allah ka shukar that our bowlers did the business

 

[Markhor]

Northern have choked. This is going to be a whooping.

 

[Ronaldo7]

We need Umar Akmal in our squad IMO

 

[shah_1]

Umar Akmal was always ideal for test cricket

Look at Sehwag and now Pant, they excel in longer format.

 

[Abdullah719]

Another hundred in the QEA final for Umar Akmal. Hit one last season too.

 

[Khan12]

As I said in a last round that waqas Ahmed is a rubbish bowler plus he's close to 40. But , I believe some PP experts wanted him in the team. He's getting outbowled by hammad.

 

[Xoib]

The only way this game would have been close was if PCB made Shaheen.and Shadab to play for northern.
In regards to Shadan if he is serious of playing test cricket he should e playing domestic 4 day finals instead of random pajama leagues shows what his priorities are.

 

[Bewal Express]

Not as dodgy as his pace!

The switch to the Kookaburra ball has made the likes of Azhar and Salman Butt look like Ricky Ponting and Graeme Smith. The cricket is painfully boring to watch.

But at least it has exposed the mediocre trundlers.

Rubbish Batsman looking great is not great but it's better than poor bowlers looking like Malcolm Marshall

 

[King_Kohli]

Slaman Butt still playing?

 

[Abdullah719]

Pics

Spoiler

 

[Abdullah719]

 

[Boi]

Shadab and Haris Rauf really should’ve played this game. That Northern attack is absolutely pedestrian.

 

[Hawkeye]

Not as dodgy as his pace!

The switch to the Kookaburra ball has made the likes of Azhar and Salman Butt look like Ricky Ponting and Graeme Smith. The cricket is painfully boring to watch.

But at least it has exposed the mediocre trundlers.

Yes, I'm glad the likes of Ehsan Adil and Sadaf are getting exposed. I hope you'll stop overhyping the trundling machine Ehsan now.

 

[Abdullah719]

Yes, I'm glad the likes of Ehsan Adil and Sadaf are getting exposed. I hope you'll stop overhyping the trundling machine Ehsan now.

Adil is the only bowler who managed to exert some control with the ball in this game, only one to go at under 3/over. Created a few chances too. He is averaging 31 this season vs. Sadaf's 51 so not exactly comparable. Also the only front-line pacer in QEA this season to have an economy rate of under 3.

 

[Bewal Express]

As I said in a last round that waqas Ahmed is a rubbish bowler plus he's close to 40. But , I believe some PP experts wanted him in the team. He's getting outbowled by hammad.

For a opening bowler, Being out bowled by Hammad is like being out bowled by your granny.

 

[Hawkeye]

Adil is the only bowler who managed to exert some control with the ball in this game, only one to go at under 3/over. Created a few chances too. He is averaging 31 this season vs. Sadaf's 51 so not exactly comparable. Also the only front-line pacer in QEA this season to have an economy rate of under 3.

Was never as bad as Sadaf, but still falls in the mediocre category for me.

 

[Saj]

Lahore, 28 December 2019:

Centuries by Azhar Ali and Umar Akmal consolidated Central Punjab’s position in the final of the first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy tournament against Northern at Karachi’s National Stadium on Saturday.

Central Punjab amassed a mammoth score of 466 for five and boasted an imposing 212-run first innings lead when stumps were drawn on day two of the five-day contest.

The day started with the pair of Azhar and Salman Butt – who made 74, hitting 14 boundaries – pushing the Northern bowlers on the backfoot and denying any early inroads as the pair added 38 runs in their second-wicket partnership of 95 runs.

Azhar, the Pakistan Test captain, added 102 runs to his overnight score and raised his first-class career’s 39th century. He made 119 runs from 212 balls, out of which 14 were dispatched for boundaries.

After Salman’s wicket in the first session, Azhar continued to craft solid partnerships with the middle-order batsmen.

He paired with Central Punjab captain Babar Azam, who cracked nine fours and a six in his 89-ball 69, for a 125-run stand for the third-wicket before adding 93 runs for the fourth-wicket with Umar Akmal, who returned unbeaten after scoring a blistering 123.

Umar spanked Northern bowlers all around the ground smashing five sixes and 12 fours in the 115 balls he has faced to date.

He took the leading role in the 98-run partnership for the fifth-wicket with his elder brother Kamran Akmal (41).

This was the 29-year-old’s second century of the tournament and his 17th overall in first-class cricket.

Umar will have Zafar Gohar (nine) on his side when play resumes on Sunday.

Scores in brief:

Northern 254 all-out, 61 overs (Faizan Riaz 116, Rohail Nazir 80; Faheem Ashraf 5-54, Bilal Asif 3-37, Aizaz Cheema 2-56)

Central Punjab 466-5, 104 overs (Umar Akmal 123 not out, Azhar Ali 119, Salman Butt 74, Babar Azam 69, Kamran Akmal 41; Nauman Ali 2-113)

 

[Khan12]

For a opening bowler, Being out bowled by Hammad is like being out bowled by your granny.

But but he should have been selected for Pakistan.

 

[ZamanFan]

Kookaburra on this Karachi pitch is graveyard for spinners. Some of the past failures of our national side are playing them for fun. This pitch is tailor made to cancel out Northerns team most important bowler Nauman Ali.

 

[Abdullah719]

A bit late but here are the Day 2 highlights:

<iframe frameborder="0" width="480" height="270" src="https://www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/x7prgco" allowfullscreen allow="autoplay"></iframe>

 

[squanchy]

So the lessons from Day 1 are important!

1. Musa Khan has been promoted far beyond his ability.

2. Rohail Nazir should be in every Test squad, firstly as back-up for Rizwan, secondly to allow him to bat day in, day out against the best bowlers.

3. Faheem Ashraf is an important missing link in the Test team. Pakistan generally needs five bowlers to take 20 wickets, and Faheem is better than most of the current Test bowlers and can bat at Number 8.

4. As always, we see that Salman Butt is a better batsman than Azhar Ali, Umar Amin and Ahmed Shehzad. That’s why he was established in the team before his fixing disgrace. He’s too old to bring back, but the gulf in class (batting class) between him and Azhar Ali remains embarrassing.

This is the shocking thing - Faheem was dropped because his batting was poor, completely ignoring the fact that his bowling has been better than any of his replacements.

 

[The Viper]

Central Punjab cruising to victory.

Unfortunately it looks one sided.

Run rate of over 4 is pretty ridiculous tbh.

 

[Abdullah719]

Lead beyond 250 now. Umar Akmal nearing 150.

 

[shah_1]

Why couldn't a match be held in Hyderabad? There was hardly any time to prepare the pitch for the final

I heard the pitches in Hyderabad have something for spinners. Nothing for spinners here

Extremely boring to watch all this

 

[Boi]

Zafar with a chance to get another ton this season which will give him confidence with the ball for the 2nd innings. Umar should look to beat his highest FC score of 248.

 

[Belawal2014]

Central Punjab are pretty much an international side...

 

[Xoib]

Zafar looks a 20-25 avg batsman now if he can get his bowling up the mark he ould be useful if we play a 5 man attack especially

 

[MenInG]

2nd w/k p/s Between Salman & Azhar 95 runs 145 balls 116 mints.
3rd wkt p/s between Azhar Ali & Barber Azam 125 runs 179 balls 136 minutes
4th w/k p/s between Azhar & Umer 93 runs 110 balls 76 mints
5th wk p/s between umer & Kamran 98 runs 102 balls 84 mints

 

[Abdullah719]

Zafar trying to get to his hundred before UA's double... What a hammering this is turning out to be.

 

[Abdullah719]

99. Nooooo

 

[MenInG]

200 for Umar Akmal

Pics from PCB

Spoiler

 

[Xoib]

If Zafar can get a fifer here I think he will be part of next test squad .

 

[Junaids]

QEA 2019
Fawad Alam 781 runs in 13 innings
Umar Akmal 754 runs in 12 innings

Not quite sure why the 34 year old is back in the Test squad, but the 29 year old isn’t.

 

[JibranAnsari]

QEA 2019
Fawad Alam 781 runs in 13 innings
Umar Akmal 754 runs in 12 innings

Not quite sure why the 34 year old is back in the Test squad, but the 29 year old isn’t.

Because fawad had a great last season too and the season before that and the season before that and the season before...

 

[Slog]

QEA 2019
Fawad Alam 781 runs in 13 innings
Umar Akmal 754 runs in 12 innings

Not quite sure why the 34 year old is back in the Test squad, but the 29 year old isn’t.

Because if you take out this season one is average 55-60 in the last 5 seasons total
Whereas the other is averaging in 30s

 

[Omer2002]

Absolutely flat wicket..northern shouldnt have batted first on here...i even think despite huge score from punjab this could be a draw and punjab will win first innings score

 

[Boi]

Hopefully Zeeshan and Haider cash in on this deck as well. Dig in and bat long.

 

[Xoib]

Because if you take out this season one is average 55-60 in the last 5 seasons total
Whereas the other is averaging in 30s

Not true really Umer has a fc average if your remove his tests above 45 sure its below Fawad but it's still healthy enough considering Umer is 5 years younger though I would prefer Saud over both for the 6th number slot if Haris fails another series.

 

[Khan12]

Come on zeeshan you are better then this 2 nothing shots in this game.

 

[Xoib]

Come on zeeshan you are better then this 2 nothing shots in this game.

I was hoping a strong final would help him leapfrog Imam, Imran Butt and Sami Aslam for the third openr slot but this final has set him back probably need another one or maybe two seasons to get back in he reckoning for national selection he is still young so he can still come in.

 

[Boi]

Umar Amin must be the softest cricketer in Pakistan. You can’t have a mental midget like him batting at 3 in a final.

 

[MenInG]

 

[Saj]

Central Punjab’s Umar Akmal recorded his second double-century in first-class cricket on day three of the final of the first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy tournament against Northern at Karachi’s National Stadium.

The middle-order batsman made 218 runs from 265 balls, adding 95 runs to his overnight score on Sunday.

He cracked a total of 20 fours and eight sixes in an innings which played a vital role in helping his side pile up a 421-run first innings lead. Central Punjab declared on 675 for eight.

Umar got the desired assistance from Zafar Gohar, who fell just one run short of what would have been his career’s second century at this level, at the other end.

The bowling all-rounder scored 99 from 168 balls, hitting 12 fours and two sixes, as the pair stitched a solid 215-run partnership for the sixth-wicket before Zafar was dismissed off Faizan Riaz’s bowling.

For Northern, Nauman Ali, Mohammad Musa and Faizan picked up two wickets each.

Northern, in their second innings, were 109 for two when stumps were drawn.

Nineteen-year-old Haider Ali was the star performer with his unbeaten 50. The young opener crafted a 75-run opening partnership with Zeeshan Malik, who scored 38, hitting six fours, before falling to Bilal Asif.

Haider has struck seven fours in the 113 balls he has faced to date and he will be joined by Faizan Riaz at the other end when the play resumes on Monday. The two have a daunting task of surmounting the 312-run trail to avoid an innings defeat.

Umar Amin (17) was the other batsman to fall as he nicked Faheem Ashraf, who took five wickets in the previous innings, to be caught behind.

Scores in brief:

Northern 254 all-out, 61 overs (Faizan Riaz 116, Rohail Nazir 80; Faheem Ashraf 5-54, Bilal Asif 3-37, Aizaz Cheema 2-56) and 109-2, 36 overs (Haider Ali 50 not out, Zeeshan Malik 38)

Central Punjab 675-8d, 155.1 overs (Umar Akmal 218, Azhar Ali 119, Zafar Gohar 99, Salman Butt 74, Babar Azam 69, Kamran Akmal 41; Faizan Riaz 2-62, Mohammad Musa 2-115, Nauman Ali 2-183)

 

[Abdullah719]

Day 3 highlights.

<iframe frameborder="0" width="480" height="270" src="https://www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/x7psgth" allowfullscreen allow="autoplay"></iframe>

 

[Khan12]

I was hoping a strong final would help him leapfrog Imam, Imran Butt and Sami Aslam for the third openr slot but this final has set him back probably need another one or maybe two seasons to get back in he reckoning for national selection he is still young so he can still come in.

He should be given a go soon at least in odi much better then them 3 in odis.

 

[Shaka81]

QEA 2019
Fawad Alam 781 runs in 13 innings
Umar Akmal 754 runs in 12 innings

Not quite sure why the 34 year old is back in the Test squad, but the 29 year old isn’t.

Because Umar Akmal is one of the least professional cricketers of all time and is generally just a waste of space every time he's given a chance by Pakistan.

 

[coy0607]

He’s always brilliant in domestic, but he doesn’t seem to have the mental capacity to succeed in international cricket. Let’s not forget the 2 eggs he laid vs Sri Lanka after lighting it up in domestic

He also hasn’t shown that he has matured off the field, his distraction overshadow his performances