KARACHI, Oct 12: Reigning champions Karachi Blues were heading for their second consecutive outright in as many matches when they reduced Lahore City to 53 for three in the second innings on the third day of the four-day Quaid-i-Azam Trophy Grade-I National Cricket Championship tie at the UBL Sports Complex here on Monday.
Skipper Saeed Azad led the way for Karachi Blues to build a vital 72-run lead on the first innings by stroking his 19th first-class century on another hot day with the mercury touching a record 43 degrees at this time of the year.
But Saeed's fine innings of 105 was overshadowed by umpire Aurangzeb Khan's abrupt decision to retire from the game on the stroke of tea interval.
A visibly perturbed Aurangzeb, who was at the centre of several incidents on Sunday, informed the match referee Haroon Rasheed in writing at lunch break that he was feeling unwell since Sunday night and could not carry on standing out in the middle because of oppressive weather conditions.
In fact, Aurangzeb wanted to take leave during the lunch interval but was persuaded by the match referee and his colleague, Test umpire Athar Zaidi, to supervise the afternoon session.
Former Test batsman Haroon, who had supervised first-class matches as an umpire before, was requested by the Local Tournament Monitoring Committee (LTMC)'s representative Mehdi Hasan to double act as the match referee as well as an umpire during the final session of the day alongside Athar Zaidi.
After Zaidi expressed his inability to supervise at both (bowler's) ends as per laws of the game, it was agreed, with the mutual consent of the two captains Saeed Azad and Aamir Malik, that Haroon would officiate at one end.
On the final day tomorrow (Tuesday), the LTMC has appointed Test umpire Feroz Butt, who returned from Kathmandu after supervising four matches in the ACC Trophy there, to take the position of Aurangzeb.
Karachi Blues, who resumed at 96 for three, were all out for 334, in reply to Lahore City's first innings score of 262, shortly after tea.
Saeed, the dusky right-hander, sent a timely reminder to the the National selectors, who meet on Tuesday to pick the New Zealand-bound Pakistan 'A' squad, with some delightful strokes, mainly through the off-side. He struck 13 fours and a six and faced 156 deliveries in a knock which took 228 minutes.
Youngsters Farhan Adil and Faisal Iqbal provided useful support to their skipper in partnerships of 86 and 97 respectively.
Apart from Saeed, all-rounder Arif Mahmood contributed 54, which was laced with three sixes and two fours, off 94 balls in stay of exactly two hours.
Arif and wicket-keeper Ahmed Zeeshan Malik, who made a compact 29, shared a crucial ninth-wicket partnership of 84 in 108 minutes after the Blues had crumbled to 250 for eight.