QEA Final: Lahore Blues snatch Trophy on sporting Karachi wicket

Lahore-B beat Karachi by one wicket in a thrilling encounter to lift the Quaid-e-Azam (Grade I) Trophy as the five-day final concluded within three days, mainly due to the sporting nature of wicket prepared especially for the final at Karachi's National Stadium.

The outcome of the match remained uncertain right up to the last moment as Lahore, chasing a target of 184 for victory, had lost their ninth wicket with 179 runs on the board. The match could have gone Karachi's way but the last wicket pair of Waqas Ahmed and Adnan Naeem negotiated some fiery bowling by Shahid Iqbal and Mohammad Sami in the closing minutes of the third day. However, luck favored the visitors. They squeaked through and the winning hit was a chance! The ball, after taking the outer edge of Waqas's bat flew just wide of Sami fielding at third man for four, bringing up instant joy in the Lahore camp.

Irrespective of the outcome, the match was evenly contested throughout the three days, as a number of players - both young and experienced - from either side displayed memorable performances for their sides. The match had an added appeal for cricket fans, as some frontline cricketers of the country took part in it. Apart from the presence of names like Shahid Afridi, Asif Mujtaba and Shadab Kabir, Moin Khan, the skipper of the national team, donned the wicket-keeping gloves for Karachi. Lahore-B, on the other hand, boasted of the inclusion of Wasim Akram and Abdur Razzaq in their ranks.

Helped by a magnificent hundred by Shahid Afridi, Karachi scored 297 in their first innings on a pitch that had a fair amount of grass on it. The bowling squad of Lahore, led by the Pakistani all-rounder Abdur Razzaq, bowled really well considering the fact that the home side had reached 286 for six at the end of the first day. However, some accurate bowling from the visitors ensured that the home side did not go past three hundred.

Razzaq finished the innings with figures of 6 for 79, whereas Wasim took three wickets for 67 runs.

The start to Lahore's innings was quite confident, they had reached 111 for the loss of just one wicket. Imran Farhat played beautifully for his 67 but the fall of his wicket saw them reduced to 156 for five at tea. Abdur Razzaq showed his all-round skill to the utmost as he rescued his side from complete disaster. He made a fine half-century at a stage when wickets were tumbling at the other end. It was mainly due to his efforts that Lahore managed to pass two hundred runs and their innings was closed at 218.

For Karachi, the young right-arm fast bowler Mohammad Sami took five wickets for 64. Afridi, bowling not so gentle medium pacers with Moin standing back to him, took three for 75.

After taking a first innings lead of 79 runs, Karachi looked well set to win the match comfortably, the idea of chasing anything in excess of 200 in the fourth innings of the match looking very remote. However, Wasim Akram and Abdur Razzaq had their own ideas and helped tilt the match towards Lahore.

The duo exploited the conditions at the National Stadium to their utmost advantage. Both bowling with enthusiasm, one with the savvy of variety as a seasoned campaigner and the other of youth and fire, completely unsettled the strong batting line-up of Karachi. Out of the total 43 overs played by Karachi, they bowled around 39 overs between them, to bundle out the home side for a paltry 104 in their second innings, with none of the batsmen getting past twenty runs.

Razzaq took ten wickets in the match as he bagged four wickets for 54 runs in the second innings. Wasim, rediscovering his rhythm and stamina, bowled 18 overs in the second innings taking six for 36.

Requiring 184 to win, Lahore started their second innings cautiously, with the first three overs being maidens because the Karachi attack, led by the new pacer, Mohammad Sami and Shahid Iqbal bowled very tightly.

The visitors lost their first wicket with the total at 20. This led to a flurry of wickets as the Lahore batsmen found it really hard to cope with this accurate bowling by Karachi.

At 66/6, the match seemed pretty much over for Lahore, but Humayun Farhat, the hard-hitting wicket-keeper batsman, came to his team's rescue, adding 63 valuable runs for the 7th wicket with left-hander Mohammad Hussain, and then 49 more for the 8th wicket with Wasim Akram.

Humayun was out at last when the visitors were just five runs away from a superb victory. He made a valiant 63 off just 48 balls, before the match was wrapped up by the winning, though somewhat streaky shot from Waqas Ahmed.

The credit, however, goes to The Management of the match who prepared an excellent wicket for the final of the biggest domestic tournament in Pakistan. Sympathies for cricket lovers all over the country who were deprived of live telecast or radio broadcast of the match for reasons best known the concerned people. However, credit to PCB and CricInfo for efforts to bring internet live ball-by-ball coverage of this final on their websites www.pcb.cricket.org and www.cricinfo.com so that a vast worldwide audience could participate in a thriller.