KARACHI: Multan gained upper hand as the Karachi batsmen stumbled in their response on opening day of the two-day Pepsi-PCB Cricket Stars U-16 cricket tournament final at the Diamond Cricket Ground in Islamabad on Saturday.

Replying to Multan’s first-innings total of 209-5 in the stipulated 70 overs, Karachi were in tatters at 103-8 in 35 overs.

Having elected to bat first after winning the toss, Multan owed their score to the solid contributions from Umar Sadiq (47), Rao Irfan (42), Sharon Siraj (40) and Mohammad Faizan (36).

The only Karachi batsman to bat with responsibility was Asad Ali who hit 44.

Close of play scores on Saturday day one of two):

MULTAN 209-5 in 70 overs (Umar Sadiq 47, Rao Irfan 42, Sharon Siraj 40, Mohammad Faizan 36, Athar Saeed 13; Ashraf Khan 2-69, Saad Zahid 1-51, Mohammad Hassan Khan 1-52); KARACHI 103-8 in 35 overs (Asad Ali 44, Ammad Alam 21, Azam Khan 16; Rao Hamza 2-14, Wasim Zafar 2-29, Faraz Khan 2-38).ools were also present.

Published in Dawn, May 25th, 2014