LAHORE, Jan 24: Rawalpindi struggled their way to 239 for eight in their first innings against Faisalabad on the opening day of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy Gold League match at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad on Wednesday.

Former Test batsman and Rawalpindi skipper Mohammad Wasim was holding the fort with an unbeaten 51. There were also half-centuries for emerging all-rounder Sohail Tanvir (53) and opener Babar Naeem (55) after Faisalabad skipper Misbah-ul-Haq elected to field first at the toss.

Wasim, who hit just three boundaries and Sohail Tanvir steadied the innings with a defiant seventh-wicket stand of 76. Sohail slammed five fours. Babar’s knock contained nine fours and one six.

Medium-pacer Ahmed Hayat captured three for 31.

Scoreboard

RAWALPINDI (1st Innings):

Sohail Nasir c Imran b Ahmed 1

Babar Naeem lbw b Asad 55

Tahir Rauf c Zahid b Ahmed 2

Naveed Qureshi c Salman b Asad 35

Mohammad Wasim not out 51

Usman Saeed b Imran Khalid 6

Yasir Arafat lbw b Ahmed 10

Sohail Tanvir c Ahmed b Saeed 53

Sajid Mahmood c Ijaz b Saeed 5

Yasim Murtaza not out 5

EXTRAS (B-6, LB-8, W-1, NB-6) 21

TOTAL (for eight wkts, 85 overs) 239

FALL OF WKTS: 1-10, 2-12, 3-99, 4-109, 5-124, 6-143, 7-219, 8-259.

TO BAT: Najaf Shah.

BOWLING (to-date): Ahmed Hayat 14-3-31-3 (3nb, 1w); Asad Ali 22-7-56-2 (3nb); Imran Khalid 25-4-76-1; Saeed Ajmal 21-5-53-2; Ijaz Ahmed Jr 3-0-9-0.

FAISALABAD: Mohammad Zahid, Abdul Mannan, Imran Ali, Misbah-ul-Haq, Naved Latif, Ijaz Ahmed Jr, Mohammad Salman, Ahmed Hayat, Imran Khalid, Saeed Ajmal, Asad Ali.

UMPIRES: Nadeem Ghauri and Zameer Haider.

MATCH REFEREE: Khalid Niazi.

OFFICIAL SCORER: Tahir Suhaib.