November 3, 2001	Saturday	Shaba’an 16, 1422

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KARACHI, Nov 2: Teenage pacer Umer Gul made a dream first-class debut when he spearheaded a gritty PIA fight back against ADBP on the opening day of the four-day Patron’s Trophy Grade-I match at the National Stadium Friday.

Umer captured four wickets in 15 balls to leave ADBP tottering at 34 for four after PIA lost their last nine wickets for 103 runs to be eventually dismissed for 182.

Umer, in his maiden season, had appeared for Peshawar in the PCB Under-19 championship. In six matches, the Pathan had picked 37 wickets. Earlier, the pacer had attended the fast bowlers camp held in August under the supervision of Australian Darryl Foster.

Earlier, PIA suffered yet another middle-order collapse to squander a 55-run second wicket partnership between Ghulam Ali and Yasir Hameed to be skittled out for a modest score.

Ghulam Ali scored 28 off 93 balls with three boundaries. But it was Yasir who showed his true class by performing on a sporting wicket and at a time when his team’s chips were down.

The youngster, who missed the previous round action, clobbered 11 boundaries in his 148-ball 85.

Asif Mujtaba and Faisal Iqbal, who saved PIA’s blushes in the previous game by scoring centuries, this time contributed four runs between them while Zahid Fazal also had a dismal return to first-class scene.

For ADBP, Tahir Mughal captured key wickets to finish with four for 52 while Inam-ul-Haq, better known for his batting prowess, snapped up three cheap wickets conceding 10 runs. Iftikhar Anjum bagged a couple of wickets.