Sialkot lifted the Qaid-e-Azam (Grade II) Trophy by beating Hyderabad on the basis of first innings' lead in the four-day final played at the MCC Ground in Multan, a historical city situated in the lower Punjab.

The much-hyped final between the two strongest teams of the tournament turned to be a drab affair as no result could be achieved after four days of play, as the pitched offered little assistance to the bowlers after the first two days.

Put into bat by the opposition, Sialkot found themselves in deep trouble at 109 for seven in their first innings until a partnership of 110 between Aamer Wasim, the skipper, and Shoaib Malik, the Pakistan national player, rescued them from complete disaster.

The last two Sialkot wickets added 96 runs to the total mainly due to the gritty knock by their captain, who was the last man out at his personal score of 128. He was ably supported in his efforts by young Shoaib who fell 14 short of what would have been an excellent hundred. Basit Saeed, batting up in the order made a handy 37, before the first innings of Sialkot was wrapped up at 315.

Saqib Younis proved to be the most successful bowler for Hyderabad, claiming three wickets for 60. Anwaar Ali and Rizwan Ahmed took two wickets each for 100 and 39 runs, respectively. Irshad Notkani and Faisal Khan finished with one wicket each against their names.

Hyderabad had a comparatively better start to their innings than their opponents. At 136 for 3, they were well on their way towards a big total, but a sudden collapse at this stage saw four of their middle-order batsmen getting out without scoring. That left them reeling at eight for 141 and then nine down for 159 a little while later. A last wicket partnership of 31 brought some respectability to the total as they were all out for 190, conceding a first innings' lead of 125.

Only Shahid Qambrani (66) and Imran Naseer (59) from Hyderabad could put up any resistance against the duo of Zahid Saeed and the off-spinner, Shoaib Malik who shared 8 wickets between them for 109 runs. Tahir Mahmood, the second new-ball bowler along with Zahid, took one wicket for 12 runs.

One expected that the after taking a lead of more than a hundred runs in the first innings, the Sialkot captain would go for declaration after adding a few more runs to the total. However, that was not to be, as Sialkot opted to bat most of the remaining time to pile up 512 in their second innings.

Hafiz Majid played a marathon knock of 271 as the pitch, which had considerable bounce and pace in it early on, eased out to a great extent. Shoaib showed his batting prowess once again by getting a fine 55. Apart form these two, none of the Sialkot batsmen could score a fifty.

Requiring an unrealizable 638 to win in 20 remaining overs on the last day, Hyderabad reached 72 for the loss of four wickets. The match, thus, ended in a draw. Sialkot were declared the winners on the basis of the first innings lead.

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