Five-Star Saqib Leads Karachi Blues to QEAT 2025 Triumph

LAHORE: Karachi Blues lifted the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy (QEAT) 2025-26 crown after exceptional centuries from Abdullah Fazal and Haroon Arshad, combined with a brilliant bowling effort from pacer Saqib Khan, who picked up a five-wicket haul in the second innings and nine wickets in the match.

This win was the third title in Karachi Blues’ history, while Sialkot failed to defend their crown.

Sialkot chased a daunting 533-run target on the closing day of the Gaddafi Stadium, Lahore, but were dismissed at 314. Sialkot contributed just 23 to their overnight mark of 12 as Saqib made it clear at the start, dismissing opener Azan Awais, who was trapped lbw for 11.

Abdullah Shafique and Muhammad Hurraira tried to recover with a 46-run association, which took the total to 81. Hurraira later fell for 39, hitting five boundaries.

Abdullah continued to fight and formed some small alliances with the middle order despite losing his partners. His resistance ended after he made 59 out of 98 balls, including six fours and a six.

The most promising alliance to Sialkot was Hamza Nazar and Afzal Manzoor, who put 112 on the board in the sixth wicket and once more gave the team some hope of a turnaround. Both batters performed with confidence. Afzal made 63 off 48 balls, and Hamza made 56 out of 84 balls, hitting 13 and 9 fours respectively.

However, their dismissals saw Karachi Blues regain control when spinners Rameez Aziz and pacer Mushtaq Ahmed set to work and had both batters off within a short period of time. At that point, it was only a matter of time before Karachi capped the victory.

Saqib, who began the proceedings earlier, sealed the victory by bowling Mohammad Hasnain, and this was a fantastic concluding performance. His figures of 5 for 86 in 20.1 overs also enabled him to be the second-highest wicket-taker of the season with 47 wickets in nine matches at an average of 20.59.

Abdullah Fazal was named player of the final because of his excellent results of 88 and 114.