KARACHI, Nov 4: A gallant half-century by Humayun Farhat steered Habib Bank out of trouble against ZTBL in the Patron’s Trophy Grade-I match at the UBL Sports Complex on Saturday.
Humayun, who top-scored in his team’s first outing with 40, stood firm again on a greenish pitch, to smash six fours and a six in an unbeaten 65 off 66 deliveries.
His brilliant innings helped the bankers reach 220 for seven in their second innings.
Despite their batting trouble, Habib Bank are in command with an overall lead of 286 runs with three wickets in hand.
Fast-medium bowler Kashif Dawood, who took five for 46 in the first innings, again proved unplayable for Imran Farhat (29), Taufiq Umar (26), skipper Younis Khan (2) and Shahid Afridi (24) to finish with four for 42 in 12 overs.
At one stage the bankers were reeling at 129 for five. But Humayun and former Test all-rounder Azhar Mahmood added 50 for the sixth wicket. Imran and Taufiq added 65 for the opening stand before Kashif caused the slide.
Earlier, resuming at their overnight score of 58 for five, ZTBL crashed to 105 half an hour before lunch to concede a lead of 64 on first innings.
After Umar Gul's opening burst, swing bowler Shahid Nazir claimed three for 27 to wrap up ZTBL innings.
Tailender Mohammad Khalil top-scored for his team with 19.