HONOURS were almost even despite Sialkot losing four wickets against Karachi Blues on a truncated opening day of the Super Eight final in the Faysal Bank Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship at the Gaddafi Stadium in Lahore on Sunday.

Sialkot, having lost three early wickets, made a satisfactory progress to reach 139-4 at stumps with Mohammad Ayub Dogar (49) and skipper Mansoor Amjad (11) batting.

The five-day title decider didn’t begin until 1:30pm — 50 minutes after the scheduled lunch interval — after Saturday’s heavy rains in the Punjab metropolis left wet patches on the playing square.

Karachi Blues skipper Khurram Manzoor didn’t hesitate in inserting the opposition into bat after winning the toss to take advantage of the pitch which was under covers. Khurram’s decision seemed to backfire initially as Shakeel Ansar and Hafiz Majid Jahangir negotiated the first 10 overs.

But Sialkot then lost wicket-keeper Shakeel, caught behind by Javed Mansoor for 11, and Faisal Rasheed (0) to successive deliveries from Anwar Ali to find themselves struggling at 40-2.

Faisal Khan spent 42 balls to score four runs before he was trapped leg-before by Tariq Haroon with the total on 54.

Veteran right-hander Ayub then put on 50 for the fourth wicket with Majid before the opener became the third batsman to be adjudged leg-before — this time to Akbar-ur-Rehman — after occupying the crease for a minute over three hours. Majid’s 54 off 120 balls included 10 boundaries.

Ayub, who played one Test on the tour of Sri Lanka last year, was joined by Mansoor who together saw the day out. Ayub’s 49 off 82 balls have so far contained eight fours.

Anwar claimed 2-32 in 12 overs with good support from Akbar and Tariq, who withdrew from the bowling crease after sending down just one delivery in his eighth over with stiffness in his adductor muscle.

Scoreboard SIALKOT (1st Innings): Shakeel Ansar c Javed b Anwar    11 Hafiz Majid Jahangir lbw b Akbar    54 Faisal Rasheed lbw b Anwar    0 Faisal Khan lbw b Tariq    4 M. Ayub Dogar not out    49 Mansoor Amjad not out    11

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-7, W-1, NB-1)    10 TOTAL (for four wkts, 52.3 overs)    139 FALL OF WKTS: 1-40, 2-40, 3-54, 4-104. TO BAT: Zeeshan Mushtaq, Ali Khan, Nayyar Abbas, Bilawal Bhatti, Mohammad Abbas.

BOWLING (to-date): Anwar Ali 12-3-32-2; Tabish Khan 10-2-42-0 (1w); Rumman Raees Khan 9-5-13-0 (1nb); Tariq Haroon 7.1-5-3-1; Azam Hussain 7.2-12-0; Akbar-ur-Rehman 7-1-29-1.

KARACHI BLUES: Khurram Manzoor, Fakhar Zaman, Mohammad Wajihuddin, Akbar-ur-Rehman, Mohammad Waqas, Javed Mansoor, Tariq Haroon, Anwar Ali, Tabish Khan, Azam Hussain, Rumman Raees Khan. UMPIRES: Ghaffar Kazmi and Kamal Merchant. TV UMPIRE: Qaiser Waheed. MATCH REFEREE: Saqib Khan.