Imran Butt’s century takes Balochistan to respectable tally against Northern

Karachi:Balochistan’s Imran Butt stroked his third century of the tournament on the opening day of his side’s four-day first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy fixture against Northern at Karachi’s UBL Sports Complex.

The right-handed opener scored 124 runs from 150 balls and led Balochistan’s way to 271 for eight in 84 overs after Northern, the visiting team, decided to not to contest the toss.

Balochistan negotiated the opening hour without losing any wicket. Left-arm spinner Nauman Ali and left-arm paceman Sadaf Hussain picked up a wicket each in the latter part of the morning session to have the scorecard reading 114 for two at Lunch.

Balochistan consolidated in the second session courtesy a high-paced knock by Imran, who smacked 21 boundaries.

Imran, to date, accumulated 802 runs in eight matches and has become the second highest run-getter in the tournament behind Southern Punjab’s Sami Aslam, who has 857 runs.

Imran failed to get the desired support from the other end as the other notable contribution was 32 off 81 balls from his captain Imran Farhat.

Umar Gul (29) and Mohammad Asghar (0) will resume the Balochistan innings on the second day.

Nauman and Sadaf were chief destroyers for Northern with three wickets apiece.

Northern are fourth on the table with one win in eight games, while Balochistan, without a single triumph, are placed at the bottom.

Scores in brief:

Balochistan 271-8, 84 overs (Imran Butt 124, Imran Farhat 32, Umar Gul 29 not out; Nauman Ali 3-80, Sadaf Hussain 3-57) v Northern