PIA strongly placed

PIA tightened their grip on their Quaid-i- Azam Trophy Group-IV match against Karachi Blues on the second day after amassing 460 for nine before declaring their first innings at KRL Stadium on Thursday.

Karachi Blues, in reply, limped to 155 for five at the close with Khalid Latif standing on the brink of a century with 91 not out. Left-arm paceman Najaf Shah, bowling to a tight line and length, took three wickets for 29 runs.

Earlier, when PIA resumed at the overnight score of 317 for two, Ghulam Ali was unable to get to the double century mark, and fell for 188 after starting the day at 178. He hit 24 boundaries in his marathon 282-ball innings and also struck three sixes.

Then Shoaib Malik with 57 and captain Moin Khan who hit an unbeaten 40 boosted the total. Pacer Mohammad Hasnain was the chief wicket-taker with four for 136 while Imranullah had three for 114.

Meanwhile, KRL gained a 252-run lead on the first innings after declaring at an impressive 410 for eight against Rawalpindi at Pindi Cricket Stadium.

Pakistan reject Misbah-ul-Haq hammered a fine 110 and Mohammad Ramzan, another ex-Test batsman, contributing 84. Medium-pacer Junaid Zia bowled well to pick up five for 78.

Rawalpindi, who mustered just 158 in their first innings, were 13 for one at the close. Babar Naeem and Asif Malik were at the crease with seven and five runs respectively.

PIA (1st Innings, overnight 317-2):

Kamran Sajid c Tariq b Imran 0

Ghulam Ali c Tariq b Hasnain 188

Yasir Hameed c Khalid b Ali 64

Asif Mujtaba c Kamran b Imran 60

Bazid Khan c Mansoor b Hasnain 14

Mahmood Hamid c Kamran b Imran 1

Shoaib Malik c Sajid b Hasnain 57

Moin Khan not out 40

Umar Gul c Khalid b Ali 6

Stephen John b Hasnain 5

EXTRAS (B-5, LB-1, W-1, NB-18) 25

TOTAL (for nine dec, 112.5 overs) 460

FALL OF WKTS: 1-0, 2-151, 3-330, 4-330, 5-344, 6-352, 7-434, 8-447, 9-460.

DID NOT BAT: Najaf Shah.

BOWLING: Imranullah 30-8-114-3; Mohammad Hasnain 32.5-5-136-4; Ali Mohammad 36-5-121-2; Mansoor Baig 5-0-30-0; Wajid Ali 7-1-27-0; Sajid Hanif 1-0-8-0; Khurram Manzoor 1-0-18-0.

KARACHI BLUES (1st Innings):

Khalid Latif not out 91

Kamran Ali lbw b John 3

Mansoor Baig c Moin b Asif 21

Wajid Ali b Najaf 1

Khurram Manzoor c Mahmood b Najaf 16

Sharjeel Ashraf c Moin b Najaf 0

Sajid Hanif not out 10

EXTRAS (B-5, LB-2, NB-6) 13

TOTAL (for five wkts, 58 overs) 155

FALL OF WKTS 1-40, 2-116, 3-119, 4-136, 5-144.

BOWLING: Umar Gul 10-3-26-0; Najaf Shah 15-6-29-3; Stephen John 8-1-28-1; Shoaib Malik 11-1-51-0; Asif Mujtaba 14-8-14-1.

Summarised scores of other Group-IV matches:

*At Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi:

RAWALPINDI 158 (Shiraz Khalid 44, Waheed Ahmed 36, Junaid Zia 32; Jaffar Nazir 5-15, Yasir Arafat 3-50, Shakeel Ahmed 2-40) and 13-1;

KRL 410-8 declared (Misbah-ul-Haq 110, Mohammad Ramzan 84, Saeed Anwar Jr 83, Asif Mahmood 38, Jaffar Niazi 32 not out; Junaid Zia 5-78, Shiraz Khalid 2-63).

*At Arbab Niaz Stadium, Peshawar:

ZTBL 240 (Atif Ashraf 71, Faisal Naveed 61; Abdul Nasir 4-51, Mohammad Siddique 4-102, Asif Khan 2-66) and 115-2 (Hafiz Majid 35, Inam-ul-Haq 29);

PESHAWAR 144 (Asif Khan 42, Asmatullah 41; Mubashir Nazir 4-39, Munir Ansari 3-35, Fahad Masood 3-38)