Photo Credit: Pakistan Cricket Board
Buoyed by a dominating 10-wicket win over Northern at the Multan Cricket Stadium, Southern Punjab will enter the fifth round, which commences from tomorrow, of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2021-22 with their heads high as they take on Sindh at Gaddafi Stadium, the home of Pakistan cricket.
Southern Punjab and Sindh have been the best sides in the competition to date as Southern Punjab lead the points table with 60 and Sindh are ranked second with 40. The match between these teams will be live-streamed through Pakistan Cricket Board’s official YouTube channel across the globe.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – who have same points as Sindh, but are ranked third – will play fourth-placed Central Punjab at Multan Cricket Stadium. The two sides are joint-winners of the last Quaid-e-Azam Trophy and will be eager to bag crucial 16 points by securing a win to catch up with Southern Punjab.
In the third match of the round, Balochistan, ranked fifth, and Northern, bottom-placed, will go head-to-head at Faisalabad’s Iqbal Stadium. After becoming the first side to face a defeat, Northern will be hoping to make a strong comeback with a win.
The players selected for the national Test side for the two-Test series against Bangladesh will not feature in this round. As such, the six sides can call up reinforcements from their squads, announced at the start of the season.
This is the last round of this Quaid-e-Azam Trophy 2021-22 being played in Punjab. The last half of the tournament, including the final will be played in Karachi.
Squads:
Balochistan – Imran Butt (captain), Bismillah Khan (vice-captain), Abdul Wahid Bangalzai, Akbar-ur-Rehman, Akif Javed, Amad Butt, Ayaz Tasawar, Azeem Ghumman, Gohar Faiz, Haris Sohail, Jalat Khan, Kashif Bhatti, Najeebullah Khan, Raza-ul-Hasan and Taj Wali
Central Punjab – Ahmed Bashir, Ahmed Shehzad, Ali Zaryab, Bilawal Iqbal, Haider Ali, Imran Dogar, Junaid Ali (wicketkeeper), Muhammad Akhlaq (wicketkeeper), Mohammad Ali, Mohammad Saad, Nisar Ahmed, Saad Nasim, Saif Badar, Waqas Maqsood and Zafar Gohar
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – Adil Amin, Arshadullah, Ashfaq Ahmed, Asif Afridi, Imran Khan Snr, Israrullah, Khalid Usman, Mehran Ibrahim, Musadiq Ahmed, Nabi Gul, Niaz Khan, Rehan Afridi (wicketkeeper), Sahibzada Farhan and Sameen Gul
Northern – Umar Amin (captain), Aamir Jamal, Abdul Faseeh, Ather Mehmood, Faizan Riaz, Kashif Ali, Mehran Mumtaz, Mubasir Khan, Mohammad Huraira, Munir Riaz, Musa Khan, Raza Hasan, Rohail Nazir (wicketkeeper), Sarmad Bhatti, Umar Waheed and Waqas Ahmed
Sindh – Asad Shafiq (captain), Ammad Alam, Ahsan Ali, Junaid Ilyas, Khurram Manzoor, Mir Hamza, Mohammad Asghar, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Hassan, Mohammad Suleman, Mohammad Umar, Saad Khan, Shan Masood, Sohail Khan and Tabish Khan
Southern Punjab – Umar Siddiq (captain and wicketkeeper), Adeel-ur-Rehman, Ali Usman, Aamer Yamin, Azam Khan (wicketkeeper), Hassan Khan, Imran Rafiq, Imran Randhawa, Mohammad Ilyas, Mohammad Junaid, Naved Yasin, Tayyab Tahir, Yousaf Babar, Zain Abbas and Zia-ul-Haq
Fixtures (17-20 November):
Southern Punjab v Sindh – Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore
Central Punjab v Khyber Pakhtunkhwa – Multan Cricket Stadium, Multan
Northern v Balochistan – Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad
Points table:
| Teams | P | W | L | D | BTP | BWP | BP | BBP | Total Points | Net R. Rate | |
| 1 | Southern Punjab | 4 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 16 | 9 | 0 | 4 | 60 | 0.676 |
| 2 | Sindh | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 14 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 40 | 0.257 |
| 3 | Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 14 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 40 | -0.165 |
| 4 | Central Punjab | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 13 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 39 | -0.311 |
| 5 | Balochistan | 4 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 12 | 5 | 0 | 1 | 38 | -0.450 |
| 6 | Northern | 4 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 11 | 0 | 1 | 36 | 0.039 |
BWP: Bowling Points
BTP: Batting Points
BP: Bonus Points
BBP: Bowling Bonus Points
