KARACHI, March 14:

The Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship Grade-II final between Hyderabad and Sargodha is poised for an exciting finish after an eventful third day at the Niaz Stadium here on Saturday.

Sargodha, chasing a target of 246, closed the penultimate day of the four-day clash on a healthy 95 for two in their second innings after their bowlers restricted Hyderabad to 174 all out.

On the final day tomorrow, Sargodha need a further 151 with first innings' heroes Tanvir Hussain batting on 17 and Maqsood Ahmed six. Openers Zamir-ul-Hasan (45) and Muhammad Hussain (22) played exceptionally well on a turning pitch to give the visitors an ideal start.

Spinners Anwar Ali and Rizwan Fareed picked one wicket each.

Earlier, Hyderabad resumed their second innings at the overnight score of 51 for three and were unable to increase substantially their overall lead of 122 as the Sargodha bowlers bowled to a nagging line and length.

Only skipper Abdul Waheed Rashid (36), Sajid Asghar (33) and Shamim Bashir (28) managed to reach reasonable scores.

For Sargodha, Tariq Munir was the wrecker-in-chief with splendid figures of five for 35 while pace bowler Muhammad Sarfraz and Maqsood Ahmed claimed two wickets each for 34 and 68 runs respectively.