KARACHI: Ehsan Adil and Waqas Maqsood shared seven wickets between them on Wednesday to give Faisalabad early advantage against Karachi Blues on a truncated opening day of the four-day Quaid-i-Azam Trophy Grade-II Cricket Tournament final at the Iqbal Stadium in Faisalabad.

Heavy rains delayed the start to such an extent that only 45.2 overs were possible and when Misbah-ul-Haq had won the toss, Karachi Blues were promptly inserted in.

After losing Ali Asad (10) early on, the visitors recovered well to reach 97 as Hasan Mohsin and Saud Shakeel put on a decent partnership of 84 before Faisalabad picked up four wickets in the space of 39 runs.

Hasan fell to Ehsan for 37 with his 71-ball innings, spanning 113 minutes, containing six boundaries. Ehsan then dealt Karachi Blues a huge blow by dismissing skipper Asad Shafiq on the very next delivery when the Test right-hander found themselves trapped leg-before-wicket.

Waqas then quickly added the prized scalp of long-discarded Pakistan left-hander Fawad Alam, who was caught behind by Ali Shah for two.

Saud and fellow left-hander Ramiz Aziz partially repaired the damage by adding 32 before Ramiz (14) was taken at the wicket off Waqas.

Akbar-ur-Rehman then joined Saud in another crucial stand that yielded 55 runs. But Ehsan returned to dismiss both of them in the space of just one run.

Akbar, who made 27 off 29 balls with five hits to the fence, was bowled while Saud’s 201-minute vigil at the wicket came to an end with Khurram Shehzad Sr taking the catch. His 120-ball knock was embellished with 13 boundaries.

When bad light forced early closure Ashiq Ali and Tabish Khan were both yet to get off the mark.

Ehsan has so far claimed 4-51 in 12.2 overs while the left-armer Waqas returned figures of 3-61 from 14 overs.

The region winning the title would qualify to play first-class cricket next domestic season.

Scoreboard

KARACHI BLUES (1st Innings):

Ali Asad c Abubakar b Waqas 10

Hasan Mohsin c Abubakar b Ehsan 37

Saud Shakeel c Khurram Sr b Ehsan 83

Asad Shafiq lbw b Ehsan 0

Fawad Alam c Ali Shan b Waqas 2

Ramiz Aziz c Ali Shan b Waqas 14

Akbar-ur-Rehman b Ehsan 27

Ashiq Ali not out 0

Tabish Khan not out 0

EXTRAS (B-6, LB-4, W-8, NB-3) 21

TOTAL (for seven wkts, 45.2 overs) 194

FALL OF WKTS: 1-13, 2-97, 3-97, 4-104, 5-136, 6-191, 7-192.

TO BAT: Mohammad Asghar, Ghulam Mudassar.

BOWLING (to-date): Waqas Maqsood 14-2-61-3 (1w); Asad Ali 10-3-29-0 (2nb); Ehsan Adil 12.2-2-51-4; Khurram Shehzad Jr 9-1-43-0 (1nb, 7w).

FAISALABAD: Ahmed Shehzad, Shahid Siddique, Atiq-ur-Rehman, Khurram Shehzad Sr, Abubakar Khan, Misbah-ul-Haq, Ali Shan, Ehsan Adil, Asad Ali, Khurram Shehzad Jr, Waqas Maqsood.

UMPIRES: Ghaffar Kazmi and Qaiser Waheed.

MATCH REFEREE: Bilal Khilji.

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2019