December 10, 2003	Wednesday	Shawwal 15, 1424

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KARACHI, Dec 9: Pakistan batsman Faisal Iqbal struck a superb 167 on Tuesday as PIA batted themselves into an impregnable position on the second day of the Patron’s Trophy Pool ‘A’ match against Defence Housing Authority (DHA) at the UBL Sports Complex.

Skipper Asif Mujtaba was also on verge of a century. He was batting on 94 as PIA finished the day at 408 for four in response to DHA’s first innings tally of 167.

Resuming at the overnight score of 75 for one, PIA batsmen made merry as the DHA bowlers toiled manfully for breakthroughs. Ghulam Ali added 17 to his Monday’s contribution of 47 before he was caught by Asif Zakir, who took over the wicket-keeping duties after Aamir Iqbal left the field with a leg injury.

The second-wicket partnership between Ghulam Ali and Faisal realized 111 runs. Later Faisal, who completed his century in 231 minutes off 162 balls, and the left-handed Asif joined hands to put on 162 in 168 minutes for the fourth wicket.

Faisal was lbw to the persevering Nasir Khan in the last session after striking 23 fours and one six. He faced 262 deliveries and was at the crease for 354 minutes.

Asif has so far stroked 13 boundaries in his 169-ball innings.

Left-arm medium-pacer Nasir, who claimed all three wickets to fall on Tuesday, bowled a marathon spell of 25 overs, on either side of the lunch interval, from the Hockey Ground End.

Scoreboard

DHA (1st Innings) 167 (Sharjeel Ashraf 63; Fazle Akbar 7-30).

PIA (1st Innings, overnight 75-1):

Kamran Sajid b Muzaffar 11

Ghulam Ali c Asif b Nasir 64

Faisal Iqbal lbw b Nasir 167

Bazid Khan c Asif b Nasir 26

Asif Mujtaba not out 94

Mahmood Hamid not out 23

EXTRAS (B-13, LB-2, NB-8) 23

TOTAL (for four wkts, 117 overs) 408

FALL OF WKTS: 1-31, 2-147, 3-197, 4-359.

TO BAT: Ahmed Zeeshan Malik, Saqlain Mushtaq, Aizaz bin Ilyas, Fazle Akbar, Najaf Shah.

BOWLING (to-date): Nasir Khan 41-7-149-3; Bilal Marwat 14-4-50-0 (8nb); Muzaffar Hussain 37-6-112-1; Rizwan Qureshi 15-1-56-0; Wasim Naeem 10-1-26-0.