KARACHI, April 10: Sindh were left battling to avoid defeat after NWFP-Balochistan gained a substantial first-innings lead of 97 runs on the second day of the Pentangular Cup match at the National Stadium here on Tuesday.

By close of play, Sindh had lost both openers, Agha Sabir (1) and Faisal Athar (9), in reaching 41 for two in their second innings. They still require 56 to bat the combined regional team bat again.

Earlier, NWFP-Balochistan added a further 247 to their overnight score of 84 for one before being all out for 331 in response to Sindh’s modest tally of 234.Test batsman Yasir Hameed scored 11 more runs before he was dismissed by paceman Uzair-ul-Haq for a 96-ball 59 that included 11 boundaries.

Uzair, in fact, picked another wicket with the very next delivery, clean bowling Shoaib Khan Sr for a first-ball duck.

But Riaz Kail (52 off 150 balls, six fours) and Adnan Raees (85 off 127 balls, 11 fours and one six) put on 124 for the third wicket to revive the innings.

Tail-enders Faisal (34 not out), Nasir Jalil (28) and Shakeel-ur-Rehman (14) made invaluable contributions as the final two wickets yielded 81 runs.

Off-spinner Tahir Khan finished with four for 50 while Uzair and Farhan Ayub claimed three wickets apiece.

Scoreboard

SINDH (1st Innings) 234 (Tahir Khan 70 not out, Rizwan Ahmed 58; Nasir Jalil 4-60).

NWFP-BALOCHISTAN (1st Innings, overnight 84-1):

Shoaib Khan Jr b Farhan 24

Yasir Hameed b Uzair 59

Riaz Kail b Tahir 52

Shoaib Khan Sr b Uzair 0

Adnan Raees c Amin b Farhan 85

Janisar Khan c Sami b Farhan 0

Ahmed Said c Sami b Tahir 4

Faisal Irfan not out 34

Arshad Khan c Faisal b Tahir 0

Nasir Jalil b Uzair 28

Shakeel-ur-Rehman st Amin b Tahir 14

EXTRAS (B-16, LB-5, W-1, NB-9) 31

TOTAL (all out, 94 overs) 331

FALL OF WKTS: 1-53, 2-104, 3-104, 4-228, 5-231, 6-236, 7-250, 8-250, 9-290.

BOWLING: Mohammad Sami 25-5-89-0 (1w); Farhan Ayub 26-8-74-3; Uzair-ul-Haq 20-2-69-3 (8nb); Agha Sabir 1-0-8-0; Tahir Khan 19-4-50-4; Asif Zakir 1-0-8-0; Rizwan Ahmed 2-0-12-0 (1nb).

SINDH (2nd Innings):

Agha Sabir b Nasir 1

Faisal Athar c Ahmed Said b Shakeel 9

Asif Zakir not out 15

Shahid Qambrani not out 11

EXTRAS (W-5) 5

TOTAL (for two wkts, 14 overs) 41

FALL OF WKTS: 1-14, 2-15.

BOWLING (to-date): Nasir Jalil 7-2-20-1 (1w); Shakeel-ur-Rehman 5-1-13-1 (4w); Janisar Khan 2-0-8-0.