Sixth round of Quaid-i-Azam Trophy from today

Despite being depleted by loss of two strike bowlers, Karachi Whites are heavily favoured to beat Sheikhupura when the sixth round of matches in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Grade-I Cricket Championship begins tomorrow (Friday).

Karachi Whites, who head the table with 51 points, will be without fast bowler Mohammad Sami and Danish Kaneria, for the four-day encounter at the UBL Sports Complex. Both youngsters are in Pakistan camp, which got under way in Lahore on Wednesday in preparation for the first Test against England.

Kaneria claimed 34 wickets in five matches at 16.29 per wicket, including a career-best seven for 39 in the first innings of the last game against Gujranwala at the KCCA Stadium before his national call-up on the third day of the match.

Sami captured 14 wickets (ave 12.00) in his two appearances for Karachi Whites.

The KCCA selectors have called up leg-spinner Zulfiqar Haider for the Sheikhupura match. The rest of the squad includes Asif Mujtaba (captain), Shadab Kabir, Khalid Latif, Zeeshan Pervez, Hasan Raza, Mohammad Masroor, Atiq-uz-Zaman, Adnan Malik, Tahir Khan, Kashif Ibrahim, Shahid Iqbal, Athar Laeeq, Mohammad Ghazan and Saeed bin Nasir.

Karachi Whites v Sheikhupura at UBL Sports Complex (Umpires: Mian Aslam and Zafar Iqbal Pasha. Match referee: Sikander Bakht).

Lahore Whites v Islamabad at LCCA Ground, Lahore (Umpires: Feroz Butt and Riazuddin. Match referee: Taslim Arif).

Faisalabad v Karachi Blues at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad (Umpires: Athar Zaidi and Siddique Khan. Match referee: Ali Zia).

Sargodha v Lahore Blues at Sports Stadium, Sargodha (Umpires: Shakeel Khan and Islam Khan. Match referee: Agha Zahid).

Bahawalpur v Rawalpindi at Bahawalpur Stadium, Bahawalpur (Umpires: Masroor Ali and Nadeem Ghauri. Match referee: Mahmood Rasheed).

Gujranwala at Peshawar at Jinnah Stadium, Gujranwala (Umpires: Ijaz Ahmed and Rasheed Bhatti. Match referee: Azhar Khan).