LAHORE, Jan 16: Test discard Imran Farhat fell eight short of century as Lahore Blues put themselves in a commanding position against Rest of Punjab in the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy Grade-I match at Gaddafi Stadium Wednesday.

On the final day Thursday, Punjab will begin their chase for 352 after the home side closed their second innings at 276 for eight before bad light ended play for the day.

Earlier, Lahore Blues took a handy 75-run lead on the first innings after taking the last three Punjab wickets for nine runs. Irfan Fazil claimed four for 57 and fellow paceman Waqas Ahmed three for 88.

Left-handed Imran blasted 12 boundaries in hurricane 92 off 129 balls. Sohail Idrees was the other batsman to shine with 75 off 96 balls with 12 hits to the ropes.

Imran and Sohail dominated the Blues’ second innings by sharing a second wicket partnership of 157 in only 136 minutes.

Sohail was trapped in front of the stumps by paceman Abdur Rauf while Imran was caught in the deep by Rizwan Ahmed off lanky fast bowler Shabbir Ahmed.

Shabbir, who took four for 74  in the first innings, claimed another haul of four in  the second while giving away 75 runs.

Scoreboard

LAHORE BLUES (1st Innings) 313 (Humayun Farhat  66, Bazid Khan 57, Mohammad Hussain 50; Shabbir Ahmed 4-74).

REST OF PUNJAB (1st Innings, overnight 229-7):

Saeed Anwar Jr b Waqas 18

Rizwan Ahmed c Humayun b Irfan 10

Hasnain Abbas c Bazid b Hasnain 51

Aamir Bashir c and b Irfan 80

Sufian Munir lbw b Hasnain 2

M. Ali Niazi lbw b Hussain 0

Mohammad Fazil lbw b Waqas 15

Asim Butt c Saleem b Irfan 24

Shabbir Ahmed lbw b Waqas 4

Abdur Rauf c Bazid b Irfan 0

Farhan Rasheed not out 0

EXTRAS (LB-5, W-1, NB-28) 34

TOTAL (all out, 72.1 overs) 238

FALL OF WKTS: 1-26, 2-34, 3-160, 4-166, 5-167, 6-198, 7-202, 8-236, 9-237.

BOWLING: Hasnain Kazim 18-3-71-2; Irfan Fazil 20.1-3-57-4; Waqas Ahmed 21-0-88-3; Mohammad Hussain 13-5-17-1.

LAHORE BLUES (2nd Innings):

Imran Farhat c Rizwan b Shabbir 92

Saleem Elahi c Sufian b Asim 23

Sohail Idrees lbw b A. Rauf 75

Bazid Khan run out 27

Humayun Farhat lbw b Shabbir 1

Zia-ur-Rehman lbw b A. Rauf 1

M. Hussain c Rizwan b Shabbir 24

Amjad Ali c A. Rauf b Shabbir 1

Waqas Ahmed not out 0

Irfan Fazil not out 1

EXTRAS (B-5, LB-9, W-2, NB-15) 31

TOTAL (for eight dec, 56 overs) 276

FALL OF WKTS: 1-46, 2-203, 3-213, 4-219, 5-225, 6-270, 7-275, 8-275.

BOWLING: Shabbir Ahmed 22-3-75-4; Abdur Rauf 15-0-74-2; Asim Butt 5-1-27-1; Farhan Abbasi 5-0-42-0; Rizwan Ahmad 4-0-22-0; Mohammad Ali Niazi 3-0-14-0; Saeed Anwar Jr 2-0-8-0.