Karachi Blues squander advantage in vital match

Karachi Blues, who are battling for survival in the Grade-I, let some of the initiative slipped away on the first day of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy match against Sargodha at the UBL Sports Complex here on Monday.

Sargodha recovered to reach 180 in their first innings after being reduced to 67 for seven an hour into the afternoon session.

Karachi Blues, in reply, survived two overs to close on two without loss. But Suleman Huda might have perished LBW to pacer Umair Hasan had umpire Sajjad Asghar not declared a no ball.

After electing to bat first on a slow track, Sargodha lost the top five batsmen for only 26 runs on the board. Stand-in skipper Naved Latif, who amassed 394 against Gujranwala barely eight weeks ago, fell to left-arm paceman Imranullah for a first-ball duck. Imranullah bowled a fine opening spell to claim three wickets which left Sargodha taking lunch at 46 for five.

When wicket-keeper Shahid Mahmood was bowled by left-arm spinner Salman Fazal for 14, Sargodha slumped to 67 for seven. However, dogged batting, engineered by left-handed Ashraf Bashir, by the lower order brought respectability to the score.

Ashraf and Faisal Khan Afridi, a burly right-hander, shared an eighth wicket stand of 51 in 40 minutes. Afridi used the long handle effectively to make 31 off 32 balls with five fours. He also lifted Salman Fazal over long-off to the top railing of the stand for massive six.

Ashraf finally departed when he holed out to Karachi Blues captain Farhan Adil at cover off part-time off-spinner Nomanullah after making 39 of 130 deliveries in two hours and 10 minutes. He put on 38 for the ninth wicket with Tariq Munir.

Tariq slammed six boundaries on his way to a top-score of 44 in 87 minutes off 75 balls before he was caught behind by Rashid Latif shortly after the second new ball was taken by Mohammad Javed.

Imranullah and Salman Fazal claimed three wickets apiece for 26 and 74 runs respectively while Javed chipped in with two for 31.