February 04, 2007	Sunday	Muharram 15, 1428

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KARACHI, Feb 3: Karachi Urban took another step from displacing Rawalpindi as Gold League leaders in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy despite a magnificent century by Babar Naeem on the third day of the four-day match at the National Stadium here on Saturday.

Replying to Karachi Urban’s massive total of 506 for five declared, Rawalpindi were all out for 351 in their first innings with the left-handed opener Babar Naeem smashing 182 in 285 minutes.

Having failed to avert follow-on by just six runs, Rawalpindi were forced to bat again and lost two wickets while scoring 63 runs in the second innings. They now need 92 runs to make Karachi Urban bat again with eight wickets intact.

Spinners Tahir Khan and Azam Hussain were responsible for putting Karachi Urban in an impregnable position as they claimed nine wickets between them.

Off-spinner Tahir captured five for 112 in 38 overs while Azam, the slow left-armer, took four for 94 in 31.1 overs after the visitors resumed their innings at the overnight tally of 122 for three.

Babar, who had scored 73 on Friday, bludgeoned his way to a seventh first-class century and dominated the fifth-wicket partnership of 148 with skipper Mohammad Wasim.

Babar’s 219-ball knock included no less than 140 runs in boundaries as he blasted as many as 32 fours and a brace of sixes before he was caught at mid-on by Tahir off Azam with the total on 272.

Wasim, the former Test batsman, played a sedate hand in making 58 off 190 balls in 236 minutes until he was ninth out to become Tahir’s fifth victim. He hit seven boundaries.

Babar was again in punishing mood when Rawalpindi batted again. He slammed a 56-ball 49 with nine fours and one six when Tahir trapped him leg-before with the last ball of the day.

Scoreboard

KARACHI URBAN (1st Innings) 506-5 declared (Hasan Raza 108 not out, Saeed bin Nasir 107, Asif Zakir 79, Mohtashim Ali 67, Agha Sabir 58).

RAWALPINDI (1st Innings, overnight 122-3):

Pervez Aziz b Tahir 33

Babar Naeem c Tahir b Azam 182

Awais Zia c Amin b Tahir 2

Naveed Qureshi c Asif b Azam 0

Najaf Shah c Amin b Aftab 7

Mohammad Wasim b Tahir 58

Sohail Tanvir c Saeed b Tahir 11

Usman Saeed c Mohtashim b Azam 4

Yasir Arafat c Hasan b Tahir 6

Sajid Mahmood not out 22

Akhtar Ayub c Tahir b Azam 9

EXTRAS (B-11, LB-6) 17

TOTAL (all out, 105.1 overs) 351

FALL OF WKTS: 1-87, 2-93, 3-94, 4-128, 5-272, 6-290, 7-295, 8-302, 9-323.

BOWLING: Malik Aftab 12-2-53-1; Rajesh Ramesh 13-2-52-0; Tahir Khan 38-10-112-5; Azam Hussain 31.1-7-94-4; Hasan Raza 4-1-10-0; Khurram Manzoor 7-3-13-0.

RAWALPINDI (2nd Innings, following-on):

Pervez Aziz c Hasan b Khurram 8

Babar Naeem lbw b Tahir 49

Usman Saeed not out 4

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-1) 2

TOTAL (for two wkts, 18 overs) 63

FALL OF WKTS: 1-29, 2-63.

BOWLING (to-date): Rajesh Ramesh 6-0-29-0; Malik Aftab 1-0-12-0 (1w); Khurram Manzoor 6-2-14-1; Azam Hussain 3-1-3-0; Tahir Khan 2-1-4-1.