KARACHI, March 11: PIA’s bid to win their maiden Patron’s Trophy suffered a huge setback on Friday when they were blown away for 150 by National Bank on the opening day of the semifinal clash at the National Stadium.

Having won the toss on a good track, Moin Khan, the PIA captain, expected more from his batsmen in ideal conditions for batting. But unfortunately, the PIA batting never got going.

The bankers ended the day 65 for one with Naumanullah, who was entrusted with the captaincy after Mushtaq Ahmed failed to show up here, going great guns on 28. Nasir Jamshed, the 15-year-old opener named in the Under-19 squad for Sri Lanka series, is batting on 22.

In fact, National Bank never let the initiative slip away once veteran opener Ghulam Ali had been caught behind in the second over of the match for a duck. Kamran Sajid (24) and Bazid Khan (3) were out in quick successions as PIA tumbled to 46 for three.

But it was an even contest when PIA reached 103 for three at the end of the three-hour pre-lunch-cum-Friday prayers, with Shoaib Khan and Faisal Iqbal batting.

However, the rot set in once the impressive paceman Mohammad Asif had Faisal Iqbal caught in the slips by Faisal Athar for 15. Shoaib followed soon after having struck nine boundaries in his 123-ball 55 in little over three hours, held at first slip by Naumanullah.

Moin played a lazy stroke against slow left-armer Qaiser Abbas and spooned a catch to Imran Nazir in the covers after hitting a solitary boundary.

The last seven PIA wickets yielded a paltry 47 runs. Asif Mujtaba did make a valiant attempt to hold up one end as he hung around for 113 minutes for his 20. But having watched wickets fall at the other, the 37-year-old left-hander pulled Asif down substitute Imran Javed’s throat in the deep to be last man out.

Asif bagged four for 34 in 17.1 overs. His pace partner Zahid Saeed had two for 47. Off-spinner Irfanuddin chipped in with two for 26.

Scoreboard

PIA (1st Innings):

Kamran Sajid lbw b Asif 24

Ghulam Ali c Naeem b Zahid 0

Shoaib Khan c Nauman b Asif 55

Bazid Khan c Imran b Javed 3

Faisal Iqbal c Faisal b Asif 15

Asif Mujtaba c sub b Asif 20

Moin Khan c Imran b Qaiser 4

Janisar Khan c Nasir b Irfan 2

Imran Tahir c Faisal b Zahid 2

Najaf Shah c Naeem b Irfan 9

Fazle Akbar not out 0

EXTRAS (B-4, LB-7, NB-5) 16

TOTAL (all out, 63.1 overs) 150

FALL OF WKTS: 1-2, 2-38, 3-46, 4-103, 5-106, 6-118, 7-130, 8-133, 9-150.

BOWLING: Mohammad Asif 17.1-5-34-4 (1nb); Zahid Saeed 19-3-47-2; Mohammad Javed 11-3-16-1 (4nb); Irfanuddin 8-2-26-2; Qaiser Abbas 8-2-16-1.

NATIONAL BANK (1st Innings):

Imran Nazir b Fazle 5

Nasir Jamshed not out 22

Naumanullah not out 28

EXTRAS (LB-2, NB-8) 10

TOTAL (for one wkt, 24 overs) 65

FALL OF WKT: 1-8.

TO BAT: Faisal Athar, Akhtar Sarfraz, Qaiser Abbas, Mohammad Javed, Naeem Ahmed Khan, Zahid Saeed, Irfanuddin, Mohammad Asif.

BOWLING (to-date): Fazle Akbar 8-2-24-1 (6nb); Najaf Shah 5-2-8-0; Janisar Khan 3-0-17-0 (2nb); Kamran Sajid 4-3-4-0; Imran Tahir 4-1-10-0.

UMPIRES: Islam Khan and Riazuddin.

MATCH REFEREE: Anwar Khan.