Karachi: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa batsman Kamran Ghulam on Sunday registered himself in record books of Pakistan’s domestic cricket when he became the leading run scorer in a single edition of the first-class tournament Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.
The 25-year-old reached the milestone while scoring his 5th century of the season (104 not out) during second innings of the tournament’s final against Central Punjab.
Kamran said that this has been an extraordinary season for him and he was grateful to his teammates and coaches who have played an integral role in his success.
“This season has given me a lot of confidence and now I have more faith in my abilities than before. Having a legend like Abdul Razzaq as a coach has helped me in identifying my strengths and now my aim is to build on them,” he said.
The player broke the 37-year-old record of HBFC’s Saadat Ali who had scored 1217 runs in 1983-84 season of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy.
Kamran has so far amassed 1245 runs in the first-class tournament, most by any player in a single edition.
The middle order batsman from Upper Dir added that this would not have been possible without the sacrifices of family members in this extraordinary season which has kept the players away from their houses for the past four months.
“My aim is now to build on this and represent Pakistan at the highest level.” he said.
Kamran is also the first player to hit five centuries in one season in last five years. With his ton today, the batsman has joined Ejaz Ahmed jnr, Naved Yasin, Qasim Umar, Ameer Akbar, Rizwan uz Zaman, Younis Khan, Israrullah and Naeemuddin to score 5 or more centuries in a single edition of the tournament.
Last man to score five centuries in a single edition of Quaid-e-Azam Trophy was Naeemuddin who achieved this feat in 2014-15 season.
The turnaround in Kamran’s performance this season is remarkable. Before the start of the season, he had scored 1164 runs in 20 FC matches. He was not even included in the first XI during previous season and had scored 271 runs in 7 games for his side in 2nd XI competition.
