March 12, 2008	Wednesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 3, 1429

KARACHI, March 11: Inspired pace bowling by Sohail Khan enabled Sindh to gain initiative as they restricted Punjab to 173 for nine on a curtailed first day of the title-deciding Pentangular Cup match at the National Stadium here on Tuesday.

Sohail continued his dream run this season as he extended his haul to 89 wickets by picking up four for 57 on a strange day of cricket which saw bad light and light drizzle restricting play to just 61 overs out of the maximum 90.

As expected, Sindh skipper Shahid Afridi invited Punjab to have first use of the NSK strip after winning the toss.

Punjab, who are missing the services of their appointed captain Shoaib Malik and stalwart Mohammad Yousuf for personal reasons, are being led by Pakistan vice-captain Misbah-ul-Haq.

Even before the match started Sindh sprang a major surprise by leaving out experienced Test leg-spinner Danish Kaneria from their playing XI for this crunch game, while opting to rely on spin of all-rounders Afridi and Rizwan Ahmed.

Opener Salman Butt experienced his first failure of the tournament when he became Sohail’s first victim after making 20. Fellow opener Mohammad Hafeez was then caught in the gulley by Khalid Latif for 17 off left-arm medium-pacer Abdul Ameer.

Nasir Jamshed made 21 before he pulled Anwar Ali straight into Rizwan’s lap at deep square-leg. After play was held up for 22 minutes soon after lunch, Sohail claimed the prized scalp of Misbah with a fine delivery for four.

Ammar Mahmood (15) then chased a wide one from Sohail, but only succeeded in nicking a catch to wicket-keeper Sarfraz Ahmed as Punjab found

themselves in shambles at 93 for five.

Left-hander Adnan Raza and Test wicket-keeper Kamran Akmal hung on grimly for 38 minutes when the game was abruptly halted for 93 minutes by bad light and drizzle.

But first ball after resumption, Kamran (6) needlessly tried to hit Sohail down the leg side, only to glove an easy catch to Sarfraz, the fourth catch held by talented wicket-keeper off Sohail.

Abdul Rehman, the Pakistan slow left-armer, somewhat stopped the rot as he helped Adnan add 45 – the highest partnership of the day – for the seventh wicket before Afridi had him caught by Rizwan for 21.

Adnan, who was given a ‘life’ on 36 by Khalid in the slips of Sohail, finally departed for a fighting 45 – a 100-ball innings lasting 138 minutes and featuring six boundaries – caught at short midwicket by Rizwan off Afridi.

Rizwan completed a good day for Sindh when Fahad Masood was trapped LBW for two.

Scoreboard

PUNJAB (1st Innings):

Salman Butt c Sarfraz b Sohail 20

Mohammad Hafeez c Khalid b Ameer 17

Nasir Jamshed c Rizwan b Anwar 21

Misbah-ul-Haq c Sarfraz b Sohail 4

Ammar Mahmood c Sarfraz b Sohail 15

Adnan Raza c Afridi b Rizwan 45

Kamran Akmal c Sarfraz b Sohail 6

Abdul Rehman c Rizwan b Afridi 21

Junaid Zia not out 2

Fahad Masood lbw b Rizwan 2

Wahab Riaz not out 0

EXTRAS (B-4, LB-7, NB-9) 20

TOTAL (for nine wkts, 61 overs) 173

FALL OF WKTS: 1-39, 2-68, 3-72, 4-93, 5-94, 6-113, 7-158, 8-167, 9-171.

BOWLING (to-date): Sohail Khan 22-6-57-4; Anwar Ali Khan 16-4-59-1 (3nb); Abdul Ameer 13-5-29-1 (5nb); Shahid Afridi 8-3-15-1 (1nb); Rizwan Ahmed 2-0-2-2.

SINDH: Khurram Manzoor, Khalid Latif, Naumanullah, Faisal Iqbal, Fawad Alam, Rizwan Ahmed, Shahid Afridi, Sarfraz Ahmed, Anwar Ali Khan, Sohail Khan, Abdul Ameer.

UMPIRES: Nadeem Ghauri and Riazuddin.

TV UMPIRE: Salim Badar.

MATCH REFEREE: Anwer Khan.

OFFICIAL SCORER: Syed Imran Ali.