December 17, 2003	Wednesday	Shawwal 22, 1424

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KARACHI, Dec 16: Despite fine bowling by Asif Mujtaba and Saqlain Mushtaq, Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) obtained a crucial first innings lead of 158 runs over PIA on the second day of the four-day Patron’s Trophy Pool ‘A’ fixture at UBL Sports Complex on Tuesday.

Replying to PIA’s paltry total of 127, KRL made 285 after resuming at the overnight tally of 129 for three.

PIA then reduced the margin to 90 but lost the wicket of Kamran Sajid in the process. The left-hander was caught on the second attempt by wicket-keeper Zulfiqar Jan off off-spinner Saeed Ajmal for 20.

Ghulam Ali (32) and first innings’ top-scorer Mahmood Hamid (11) survived until stumps without much trouble. But with the pitch giving signs of turn and invariable bounce, PIA will hoping to set KRL a target of around 250 in the fourth innings of the match.

Intikhab Alam added another 28 to his Monday’s contribution of 32 before being dismissed by medium-pacer Ali Gohar. His 124-ball 60 was laced with eight boundaries.

Useful knocks down the order by Zulfiqar Jan (22), Azhar Ali (40) and Mohammad Asif (33) immensely helped KRL’s cause.

Saqlain, the Test off-spinner, finished with four for 77 inspite of being not at his best. Asif Mujtaba, the ex-Pakistan stalwart, was a model of accuracy and kept the batsmen guessing with his slow left-armers. The PIA captain fully deserved each of his five wickets while giving away only 34 runs in 32.1 overs.

Scoreboard

PIA (1st Innings) 127 (Mahmood Hamid 66; Mohammad Asif 4-67).

KRL (1st Innings, overnight 129-3):

Ali Naqvi lbw b Asif 40

Saeed Anwar Jr lbw b Saqlain 22

Asif Mahmood c Ahmed Zeeshan b Asif 14

Intikhab Alam c Kamran b Ali Gohar 60

Mohammad Ramzan c Asif b Saqlain 6

Yasir Arafat c Ahmed Zeeshan b Asif 13

Zulfiqar Jan c Bazid b Asif 22

Azhar Ali st Ahmed Zeeshan b Asif 40

Mohammad Asif b Saqlain 33

Faisal Afridi c Bazid b Saqlain 5

Saeed Ajmal not out 0

EXTRAS (B-16, LB-3, NB-11) 30

TOTAL (all out, 112.1 overs) 285

FALL OF WKTS: 1-66, 2-70, 3-107, 4-131, 5-182, 6-193, 7-222, 8-277, 9-285.

BOWLING: Fazle Akbar 21-5-72-0; Ali Gohar 19.4-3-50-0 (5nb); Saqlain Mushtaq 29-4-77-4 (5nb); Asif Mujtaba 32.1-13-34-5 (1nb); Aizaz bin Ilyas 9.2-1-23-0; Mahmood Hamid 1-0-10-0.

PIA (2nd Innings):

Kamran Sajid c Zulfiqar b Saeed Ajmal 20

Ghulam Ali not out 32

Mahmood Hamid not out 11

EXTRAS (B-4, NB-1) 5

TOTAL (for one wkt, 25 overs) 68

FALL OF WKT: 1-45.

BOWLING (to-date): Mohammad Asif 6-2-15-0; Yasir Arafat 9-4-20-0 (1nb); Faisal Afridi 3-0-11-0; Saeed Anwar Jr 1-0-10-0; Saeed Ajmal 7-5-8-1.