Arshad captures 7/66 for Peshawar

A 105 runs second wicket stand between Bilal Asad (64) and Mohammad Shahbaz (23) failed to stop Islamabad's slide as Test spinner Arshed Khan produced a haul of 7 for 66 for Peshawar to reduce the hosts to 226 all out in the first innings here on the opening day of Quaid-i-Azam Trophy fixture at Shalimar ground on Sunday.

At stumps Peshawar were 5 for 1 with Test opener Wajahatullah Wasti batting on 4 and nightwatchman Sajid Shah yet to open his accounts. Islamabad struck early through pacer Roa Iftikhar had opener caught off Rauf Akbar for a duck when the total was 1.

Put into bat by a strong Peshawar side having a number of prominent Pakistan players, Islamabad lost opener Adil Hanif (4) at 11 but wicket-keeper batsman Mohammad Shahbaz (23 off 98) and Bilal Asad (64 off 88) restored stability by adding 105 solid runs for the second wicket.

But, Islamabad found itself in even deeper trouble when both batsmen were removed at the total of 116.

At this stage, Pakistan's one-day specialist spinner Arshad Khan took charge and ripped apart Islamabad batting as the last seven batsmen could add 110 runs with Zaheer Abbasi slamming half century (53 off 124 balls) and Fahad Khan (25 off 56) being the only other main contributors.