LAHORE, Jan 13: A fine unbeaten century by Bilal Khilji kept alive Multan’s hopes for a first innings lead against Lahore Ravi on the second day of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy Silver League match at the LCCA Ground on Saturday.

The left-handed Bilal hit a 178-ball 110 as Multan reached 269 for eight in reply to Lahore Ravi’s total of 297.

Bilal and skipper Azhar Shafiq (74 off 102 balls, 13 fours) shared a third-wicket stand of 133 after the visitors lost both openers for 12 runs.

But Azhar's departure, LBW by Wasim Khan, triggered a mini collapse during which Multan were reduced to 166 for six. Kamran Hussain was caught by Adnan off Wahab Riaz for a duck then Wasim sent back Kashif Naved and Abdur Rauf also without scoring.

However, Bilal stood firm and with Imranullah (38) to put on 75 for the seventh-wicket before Imranullah was bowled by Ali Azmat. Mohammad Irshad (12) was the last man out as the stumps were drawn for the day.

Wasim gave away 79 runs in 20 overs to grab five wickets. Left-arm paceman Wahab Riaz captured two for 57.

Earlier, Lahore Ravi resumed the first innings at 271-8 and all were out after adding 26 runs while losing top-scorer Ali Azmat for 84 (12 fours).

Azharullah finished with five for 46. Right-arm medium-pacer Abdul Rauf, who has been constantly giving performance in the domestic cricket, finished with three for 75.

Meanwhile, both the teams have been advised to report at the ground on Sunday at 7am to avoid any hassle because of blockage of the roads due to the staging of Lahore Marathon.

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