Lahore: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa entered this year’s edition of Quaid-e-Azam Trophy with back-to-back titles. Their run in this edition, however, has shocked many. At the halfway stage of the 10-round league phase, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa find themselves languishing at the bottom of the points table with three of their five matches ending in draws and two in defeats.
They have accumulated only 31 points, and have played against all their oppositions. When the second and final half of the four-day first-class tournament commences tomorrow, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will look to implement their learnings from the first five rounds and turn the fortunes around.
The schedule for the sixth round is the same as the first one’s with the roles of home and away sides reversed, so Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will be eager to avenge their 134-run defeat by Balochistan when the two sides meet at Multan Cricket Stadium.
Balochistan, since the win in their tournament opener, have had struggles of their own as their next four games resulted in two draws and two defeats, and that’s something Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will hope to exploit. Balochistan are only 16 points better than Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and are placed fourth in the points table.
The Abbottabad Cricket Stadium will stage the contest between top-ranked Northern and fifth-placed Southern Punjab. Northern have had an excellent first half of the tournament. Their three wins – the most for any side this edition – have garnered them 91 points. Southern Punjab, however, have not won any match to date.
When these two teams met in the first round, Northern, who were the finalists last year and in the 2019-20 edition, inflicted a heavy 10-wicket defeat on Southern Punjab. Since, Southern Punjab drew all four contests, while Northern enter this contest with a convincing nine-wicket win against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Rivals Central Punjab and Sindh will face off in front of broadcast cameras at the Pindi Cricket Stadium. Interestingly, all of Central Punjab’s five matches have ended in draws, but one must expect a stiff contest from Sindh, who defeated Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan in the fourth and fifth rounds and enter the sixth round on a high.
