Karachi Whites clinched their fifth Quaid-e-Azam Trophy title after defeating Faisalabad at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore by 456 runs on the last day of the five-day final. Faisalabad captain Faheem Ashraf was the last batter to be dismissed off the bowling of Ghulam Mudassar, sparking off celebrations for the Sarfaraz Ahmed-led side that pocketed a cash prize of PKR 10 million.

Karachi Whites’ last Quaid-e-Azam Trophy title win came in the 2001-02 season, when they beat Peshawar in the final by eight wickets. Before that, they completed a hat-trick of titles in 1990-91, 1991-92 and 1992-93. Faisalabad resumed from their overnight score of 129-6 with Faheem leading a counterattack, delaying the inevitable. They lost two wickets in the first session with Ali Asfand and Khurram Shahzad the batters dismissed as Faisalabad reached lunch at the score of 230-8. Faheem then completed his fourth first-class century off 119 balls, and added 57 runs for the ninth wicket with Arshad Iqbal and 51 runs for the last wicket with Mohammad Ali. Faheem was eventually dismissed for 147 off 181 deliveries, his career-best score including 23 fours and two sixes.

For Karachi Whites, Ghulam Mudassar registered figures of 3-62 while Shahnawaz Dahani took 2-119. Mir Hamza, Noman Ali and Asad Shafiq bagged one wicket apiece.

At the conclusion of the round-robin stage of the tournament, Faisalabad had topped the points table with Karachi Whites second on the standings. Peshawar’s Sahibzada Farhan topped the batting charts with 847 runs in 10 innings and was awarded best batter of the tournament. For his 203 in the first innings and 109 in the second innings, Karachi Whites’ Saim Ayub was named player of the final. The victorious team’s captain Sarfaraz Ahmed (697 runs and 28 dismissals) was declared player of the tournament. Faisalabad duo Khurram Shahzad (36 wickets in eight matches) and Ali Shan (28 catches and one stumping) were named best bowler and best wicket-keeper of the tournament respectively.

Published in The Daily National Courier, October, 27 2023

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