KARACHI, Feb 23: Speedsters Fazle Akbar and Najaf Shah bowled PIA into an unassailable position on Wednesday after bundling out PTCL for 73 in their first innings on the second day of the Patron's Trophy Pool 'A' match at the National Stadium.
Fazle, the injury-riddled Test discard playing after a while, bowled with fire in picking up six for 24 in 12 hostile overs. Najaf, his young left-arm partner, kept PTCL under constant pressure at the other end to finish four for 30 in 17.5 overs.
PIA, who have never won this championship in their long history, decided against enforcing the follow-on because Fazle appeared to have suffered recurrence of a leg injury which he sustained earlier in the season.
Batting a second time, the national carrier extended their overall lead to 378 having obtained a 223-run advantage on the first innings. They closed the day at 155 for five with Faisal Iqbal (42) and captain Moin Khan (27) at the crease.
Yasir Hameed followed his 70 on Tuesday with another stroke-filled knock of 40 off 45 balls. The Test right-hander smashed eight boundaries. But the day belonged to Fazle and Najaf after PIA had lost the remaining three wickets for 10 runs to be all out for 296. Left-arm pace man Mohammad Khalil bagged two further wickets to finish with impressive figures of four for 74.
PTCL found themselves in trouble from the onset with Fazle sending back Mohammad Fayyaz and Shahzad Malik for ducks in successive overs. Skipper Aamir Bashir fell caught behind off left-armer Najaf for nine as PTCL came for lunch at 31 for three.
The wickets continued to tumble after the break. Left-handed opener Ashar Zaidi was caught by wicket keeper Moin for 13 - the highest score of the innings. Ex-Test batsman Naved Latif (6) was all at sea against Fazle, who produced a beauty to uproot the middle stump of the diminutive right-hander. Mohammad Hussain (9) also found his furniture disturbed as did Riaz Afridi (5).
Asim Kamal, batting down the order, missed an ideal opportunity to gain invaluable match practice when he pulled a Fazle delivery straight into the hands of Aizaz Cheema at mid-on. The Test left-hander scored just seven runs.
Khalil was the only other man in the PTCL innings to enter double figures. The left-handed tail-ender was last out for 12 as the entire innings lasted only 35.5 overs.
SCOREBOARD
PIA (1st Innings, overnight 286-7):
Kamran Sajid lbw b Khalil 72
Yasir Hameed c Aamir b Hussain 70
Shoaib Khan c Hussain b Khalil 45
Asif Mujtaba b Yasir 1
Faisal Iqbal c Naved b Riaz 21
Moin Khan c Fayyaz b Hussain 29
Zeeshan Pervez lbw b Riaz 0
Imran Tahir lbw b Khalil 24
Najaf Shah b Riaz 12
Fazle Akbar b Khalil 8
Aizaz Cheema not out 1
EXTRAS (LB-2, NB-11) 13
TOTAL (all out, 91.5 overs) 296
FALL OF WKTS: 1-106, 2-177, 3-195, 4-200, 5-249, 6-249, 7-266, 8-287, 9-295.
BOWLING: Riaz Afridi 27-5-73-3 (1nb); Mohammad Khalil 18.5-4-74-4 (2nb); Yasir Ali 19-4-87-1 (8nb); Mohammad Hussain 24-3-50-2; Naved Latif 3-0-10-0.
PTCL (1st Innings):
Ashar Zaidi c Moin b Najaf 13
Mohammad Fayyaz c Moin b Fazle 0
Shahzad Malik c Asif b Fazle 0
Aamir Bashir c Moin b Najaf 9
Naved Latif b Fazle 6
Mohammad Hussain b Fazle 9
Asim Kamal c Aizaz b Fazle 7
Zulqarnain Haider c Asif b Najaf 4
Riaz Afridi b Fazle 5
Mohammad Khalil lbw b Najaf 12
Yasir Ali not out 1
EXTRAS (LB-3, NB-4) 7
TOTAL (all out, 35.5 overs) 73
FALL OF WKTS: 1-4, 2-6, 21, 4-31, 5-31, 6-46, 7-51, 8-55, 9-60.
BOWLING: Fazle Akbar 12-6-24-6 (3nb); Najaf Shah 17.5-4-30-4; Aizaz Cheema 6-1-16-0 (1nb).
PIA (2nd Innings):
Kamran Sajid b Riaz 6
Yasir Hameed c Ashar b Yasir 40
Shoaib Khan c Zulqarnain b Yasir 2
Asif Mujtaba b Fayyaz 18
Faisal Iqbal not out 42
Zeeshan Pervez run out 15
Moin Khan not out 27
EXTRAS (B-1, LB-1, NB-3) 5
TOTAL (for five wkts, 49 overs) 155
FALL OF WKTS: 1-6, 2-23, 3-56, 4-93, 5-117.
BOWLING (to-date): Riaz Afridi 14-1-65-1; Yasir Ali 13-3-38-2 (3nb); Naved Latif 2-0-18-0; Mohammad Hussain 14-5-20-0; Mohammad Fayyaz 6-1-12-1.
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