Sarfraz saves Sindh, remaining ties also drawn.

KARACHI -- Sindh needed the vast experience of deposed Pakistan captain Sarfraz Ahmed to avert a certain defeat against leaders Central Punjab during their First XI Quaid-e-Azam Trophy fifth-round fixture at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad on Thursday.

The remaining two matches also failed to yield a conclusive result as batsmen were in dominant mood at both Sialkot and Quetta. But the clash in Faisalabad was by far the most exciting with Central Punjab just two wickets shy of sealing their third win of the championship.

After adding 85 runs briskly in 13.5 overs - with former Pakistan skipper Salman Butt, who was on 90 at stumps on Wednesday, contributing an unbeaten 137 (206 balls, 10 boundaries) - Central Punjab closed their second innings at 273-5 while setting Sindh a challenging target of 331 from the remaining 74 overs available in the day.

Just like their first innings, Sindh lost early wickets and were soon staring at defeat when the fifth wicket fell at 68. But Sarfraz played a captain's innings to bail his team out of danger with a defiant half-century that guided his side to 158-8 in 58 overs before match was called off owing to fading light.

Sarfraz, the wicket-keeper/batsman, scored 54 from 62 balls with the aid of seven boundaries and together with Saad Ali (23) added 53 for the sixth wicket. But just like in the first innings, Sarfraz's dismissal was a replica as he was caught by wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal off Nasim Shah.

Nasim further stake his claims for a fairytale Test debut against Australia by taking three wickets for 33 runs in 11 overs, giving the talented 16-year-old fast bowler match bag of nine for 111.

The action at Sialkot's Jinnah Stadium was laborious. Resuming their first innings at 403-8 in response to Northern's 550-6 declared, Southern Punjab were finally bowled out for 453 with long discarded Test wicket-keeper Adnan Akmal scoring 64 off 100 balls (10 fours).

While Australia-bound Pakistan paceman Shaheen Shah Afridi and spinner Nauman Ali didn't add to their overnight of two and five wickets, respectively, seamer Waqas Ahmed claimed the last wickets to finish with 3-59.

Northern then chose to gain batting practice and none benefitted more than their openers Haider Ali and Zeeshan Malik with both surpassing the 50-run mark. The pair shared an opening partnership of 131 before Zeeshan - who starred with a superb 216 in the first innings, which was also his maiden first-class score of 100-plus - was out for...