Former Pakistan U19 captain Saad Baig continued his prolific run in first-class cricket with yet another big score, hitting twin centuries for Karachi Region Blues in the latest round of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.
Baig added to his century in the first innings with another in the second, before he was dismissed by Test spinner Sajid Khan for 116 off 225. Along with Test captain Shan Masood, he put on a 133-run third-wicket stand, with Karachi declaring on 283-3.
In response, the Peshawar Region, already 226 runs behind in the first innings, ended up losing the match by 218 runs.
Karachi did not enforce a follow-on, presumably to provide their batters some time in the middle. In the first innings, it was Baig who top-scored with 109. While Masood was out for a 15-ball duck, Baig found support in Usman Khan (84) and skipper Saud Shakeel (93).
The 19-year-old Baig has now hit four centuries in his last five games, and is second on the run-getters list behind Saad Khan. So far, he’s scored 747 runs at 67.91, including four hundreds and two fifties.
The season is turning out to be a breakthrough one for Baig, who had a relatively underwhelming start to first-class cricket. In his debut season (2024/25), he managed 370 runs at 26.42 from 14 games with a best of 95.
He has also played the Pakistan Super League, with seven games across two seasons for Karachi Kings. With a best of 25 from six innings and a strike-rate of 123, he hasn’t really clicked in the PSL yet.
The wicketkeeper, who bats left-handed, led Pakistan in the 2024 U19 World Cup, where they lost to Australia U19 by one wicket in the semi-final. Baig managed 92 runs from five innings in the competition.
Last year, he had revealed how he had looked up to Sarfaraz Ahmed, with the former Pakistan wicketkeeper helping him out with advice.
Karachi are currently fourth on the points table with two wins from six games.
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