LAHORE: Wild card entrants Karachi put a stranglehold over defending champions Sialkot when they reached 202 for one after securing a 74-run first-innings lead at stumps on the third day of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy final at the Gaddafi Stadium here on Wednesday.

Fast bowlers Mohammad Umar and Saqib Khan produced bowling figures and grabbed four wickets apiece as Sialkot, resuming their first innings at 235 for six in reply to Karachi’s 340, were dismissed for 266. Overnight batters Hamza Nazar and Hasan Ali added four and 12 more runs to their last evening’s scores of 60 and 29, respectively, and were out after scoring 64 and 41, respectively.

In Karachi’s second innings, opener Abdullah Fazal was unbeaten on 104 and Haroon Arshad was batting on 55, as they extended their advantage to 276 runs with nine wickets in hand.

Despite excellent bowling from Umar and Saqib and a fine unbeaten century by Abdullah, the highlight of the third day was Karachi opener Saad Baig completing 1,000 tournament runs.

Saad, the former Pakistan U19 and Shaheens batter, had entered the match needing 70 runs to achieve the rare feat. After scoring 39 in the first innings, he scored 31 in the second before falling to fast bowler Mohammad Hasnain.

Saad accomplished the milestone in his 19th innings of 10 matches and ended the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy with a healthy average of 55.55, including four centuries and three half-centuries. Islamabad’s Shamyl Hussain was the second leading run-scorer with 899 runs, followed by Abbottabad’s Shahzaib Khan (838 runs) and Bahawalpur’s Saad Khan (837 runs).

Sialkot’s Azan Awais is presently sitting on 792 runs and has one innings left in the event.

Earlier in the day, Umar added the wickets of Hamza and Usama Mir (8) to finish with figures of 24-2-79-4, while Saqib picked up the wickets of Hasan Ali and Mohammad Hasnain to end with 23.5-7-79-4. Saqib now has 42 wickets in the tournament and trails table-topper Ali Usman of Multan by six wickets.

With a 74-run first-innings lead, Karachi’s Abdullah Fazal featured in two good partnerships and completed his maiden first-class century, finishing unbeaten on 104. He has faced 200 balls, striking 11 fours.

Together with Saad, Abdullah put on 53 runs for the first wicket, while the unbroken second-wicket stand has produced 149 runs, with Haroon Arshad contributing 55 not out. Haroon has faced 145 balls and hit four fours.

FINAL: Scores in brief (day 3 of 5):

Karachi vs Sialkot, Gaddafi Stadium

KARACHI 340 all-out (Abdullah Fazal 83, Usman Khan 82, Saad Baig 39, Saqib Khan 33, Rameez Aziz 22; Mohammad Ali 4-79, Mohammad Hasnain 2-70, Hasan Ali 2-94) and 202-1 (Abdullah Fazal 104 not out, Haroon Arshad 55 not out, Saad Baig 31)

SIALKOT (overnight 235-6, 61 overs) 266 all-out, 71.5 overs (Mohsin Riaz 71, Hamza Nazar 64, Hasan Ali 41, Abdullah Shafique 32, Mohammad Umar 4-79, Saqib Khan 4-79)