Aamer Sajjad and Zulfiqar Babar down Karachi Blues

Weighed down by a mountain of runs, Quaid-e-Azam Trophy winners Karachi Blues slumped to an innings defeat against The Rest at the Niaz Stadium. Aamer Sajjad, from an overnight 113, went to to score an unbeaten 200 and alongside Saeed Bin Nasir (75) took The Rest to 575 for 5. Sajjad's knock continued to be a brisk one, spanning 263 deliveries, and with Bin Nasir he put on 194.

Facing a deficit of 377, Karachi Blues were bowled out for 210 with Zulfiqar Babar snaring seven wickets. After the openers were dismissed, Zulfiqar spun out the next seven to continue the form he showed during the QEA last year. No batsman got to fifty.

A pair of Abbasses, Prince and Nayyer, combined to dismiss Habib Bank Limited (HBL) for 239 in their second innings but at stumps at the National Stadium it was Sialkot who were still struggling. The efforts of their new-ball pair limited the target to 418, and at the close Sialkot were 146 for 3.

Prince, a right-arm medium pacer, and Nayyer, a slow left-arm spinner, took four wickets each to lift Sialkot's spirits after a poor second day. Nayyer snapped a century opening stand by dismissing the openers Imran Nazir (66) and Shan Masood (55), while Prince took out the middle order as HBL collapsed from 121 for 0 to 239. But Sialkot's attempt to chase 418 began poorly, with two early wickets going down. The captain, Majid Jahangir, fell for 49 shortly before stumps and Mohammad Ayub, unbeaten on 60 from 53 balls, may have to temper his approach if early wickets go down tomorrow.