Misbah-ul-Haq gives Punjab the upper hand
A round-up of the first day's play of the first-round matches in the Pentangular Cup
29-Mar-2007
Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) ended the first day of the first-round Pentangular Cricket Championship match against Habib Bank Limited (HBL) on 277 for 5 at the National Bank of Pakistan Sports Complex.
HBL captain Hasan Raza put KRL in to bat after winning the toss. Mohtashim Ali fell without scoring but Ashar Zaidi (70) and Azhar Ali (84) added 91 runs for the second wicket. Ali batted for five hours 35, faced 253 balls and hit seven fours and a six. Ashar scored his 70 off 89 balls.
Mohammad Wasim was unbeaten at stumps with 37 off 82 balls with four fours. Earlier, Bilal Asad contributed 32 off 38 balls with six fours while Saeed Bin Nasir helped add 73 for the fourth wicket with Azhar.
Punjab captain Misbah-ul-Haq gave his team a flying start on the opening day against Sindh as they ran up a score of 346 for 4 at the National Stadium. Misbah, who played five Tests and 12 one-day internationals for Pakistan until 2004-05, hit an unbeaten 157 off 258 balls with 25 fours.
Punjab were put in to bat by the Faisal Iqbal. Fast bowler Anwar Ali upset the top order with quick wickets as Punjab slumped to 26 for 3. Then Misbah and Adnan Raza added 193 runs for the fourth wicket.
While Misbah scored his 24th first-class century, the 19-year-old Adnan - who will be touring Bangladesh next month with the Pakistan Academy cricket team - compiled an enterprising 78 off 176 balls with 11 fours and a six.
Naved Latif scored an unbeaten 54 off 78 balls with nine fours during a 127-run stand for the fifth wicket with Misbah. Ali took all the four wickets to fall and conceded 90 runs off 20 overs.