Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were in the driving seat, after taking a lead of 286 runs, at stumps on day three of the ongoing Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Final at the National Stadium in Karachi.

KP’s Kamran Ghulam broke the 37-year old record, held by Saadat Ali for scoring 1,217 runs in 18 innings during 1983-84 season, of most runs in a single season of Quaid-e-Azam Trophy during the third day’s play as he put his team in a strong position to lift the elusive trophy.   

Ghulam’s 104-run unbeaten knock, his fifth hundred of the season, ensured that KP reached 243/5 against Central Punjab in their second innings at the close of play on day three.

Opener Israrullah also scored his second fifty of the match (63), while Adil Amin chipped in with 34 runs.

For Central Punjab, pacer Waqas Maqsood bagged two wickets, Bilawal Iqbal and Qasim Akram claimed one wicket each.

Earlier, resuming at the overnight score of 212/8, Central Punjab declared their first innings at 257/9 in reply to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s first innings score of 300, handing their opponents a lead of 43 runs. 

Qasim Akram (60*), Usman Salahuddin (60), Saad Nasim (55) were the prominent scorers for the Central Punjan outfit. 

Pacer Irfanullah Shah was the pick of the bowlers for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, claiming figures of 4/73.

First innings scores in brief:

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 300 all out in 97.5 overs (Kamran Ghulam 76, Adil Amin 75, Israrullah 61; Hasan Ali 4/62, Waqas Maqsood 3/59)

Central Punjab  257/9 (dec.) 75.1 overs (Qasim Akram 60*, Usman Salahuddin 60, Saad Nasim 55; Irfanullah Shah 4/73, Khalid Usman 3/32)