Faisalabad lost six wickets in pursuit of the highly unlikely target of 790, as Karachi Whites maintained their dominance in the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2023-24 final.
Faisalabad commenced their innings on day four with openers Taimoor Sultan and Mohammad Huraira. Huraira was dismissed after making only five runs from 14 balls, while Taimoor managed to score 31 from 73 deliveries before being caught by Sarfaraz Ahmed off the bowling of Noman Ali.
Faisalabad's wicket-keeper, Ali Shan, contributed 24 runs from 43 balls, and left-handed batter Ali Waqas posted 48 runs from 73 deliveries with nine boundaries, falling just two runs short of a half-century.
Muhammad Irfan Khan and Asif Ali were both dismissed with single-digit scores, scoring one off two and three off 13 balls, respectively, before being sent back to the pavilion. Faheem Ashraf and Ali Ashraf were the unbeaten batsmen at stumps, with Faheem scoring 15 not out from 29 balls.
Earlier, Asad Shafiq and Sarfaraz Ahmed continued their innings for Karachi Whites, with Asad reaching a solid 60, and Sarfaraz having scored one from six deliveries by the end of day three.
Asad subsequently achieved his 31st first-class century by scoring 100 from 201 balls before the lunch break, taking Karachi Whites' total to 350 runs in 92 overs. Karachi Whites then declared their innings at 370 for the loss of seven wickets in 98.1 overs.
Sarfaraz concluded his innings at 73 from 112 deliveries and emerged as the second-highest run-scorer of Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2023-24 with a total of 697 runs in 11 innings, while Asad secured the third position after finishing his innings at an impressive 113 from 222 balls, with his total reaching 670 runs in 13 innings.
Khurram Shahzad claimed two wickets for Faisalabad, while Faheem Ashraf, Mohammad Ali, and Arshad Iqbal each took one wicket in the second innings.
Summary of scores:
Karachi Whites 543 all out, 120.2 overs (Saim Ayub 203, Shan Masood 180; Mohammad Ali 3-63, Arshad Iqbal 3-94, Khurram Shahzad 3-120) and 370-7 dec, 98.1 overs (Asad Shafiq 113, Saim Ayub 109, Sarfaraz Ahmed 73; Khurram Shahzad 2-49, Arshad Iqbal 1-41)
Faisalabad 124 all out, 35.5 overs (Muhammad Irfan Khan 32, Ali Waqas 27; Mir Hamza 5-44, Shahnawaz Dahani 4-50) and 129-6, 41.3 overs (Ali Waqas 48, Taimoor Sultan 31; Asad Shafiq 1-9, Noman Ali 1-15, Mir Hamza 1-31)