By: Abid Hussain
Lahore: All-rounder Amad Butt scored a century to put Balochistan in a strong position against Sindh on day two of the four-day tenth round first class Quaid-a-Azam Trophy match at the National Stadium on Tuesday.
Butt joined Imran Farhat (137) and Akbar-ur-Rehman (122) as the third centurion in the Balochistan innings which closed at 471 for nine declared in 150.2 overs.
Sindh has responded with 71 for one in 27 overs when stumps were called for the day with Khurram Manzoor batting on 40 and Saud Shakeel on 30 as the two overcame the early loss of opener, Omair Bin Yousuf (one) to put on an undefeated 64 runs.
Manzoor had hit five fours in his undefeated innings.
Earlier Balochistan resuming on 271 for two lost their overnight centurions, Farhat and Akbar one after the other.
At 271, Farhat fell to the bowling of Mir Hamza while Akbar was picked up by Sohail Khan at the total of 276 runs.
Akbar’s 122 lasted for 270 balls with 14 fours while left-hander, Farhat’s 137 came from 263 balls laced with 18 fours.
Hamza also picked up Bismillah Khan (10) at the total of 300 runs to sense they could bowl out Balochistan before lunch.
But Amad Butt who played a free flowing knock teamed up with Asif Zakir (53 off 105 balls) for a sixth-wicket partnership of 107 runs in quick time as he hit a total of 12 fours and one six in his 156 ball innings.
Butt had reached his century from 144 balls with 12 fours and one six.
Left arm pacer, Mir Hamza playing after a break due to an injury was the best bowler for Sindh finishing with four for 98 while Sohail took three for 75 runs.
Butt who bowled the pivotal final over against the Indian emerging team in the recent Emerging Asia Cup to give his team victory was in top form with the bat and underlined his growing stature as an all-rounder.
Both the teams are playing the match for the fifth and sixth positions on the points table when the round matches end on Thursday as the top four teams, Central Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Northern Punjab and Southern Punjab are all in the run to play the final.
