LAHORE, Feb 23: A brilliant century by opener Babar Naeem and equally useful contributions by Azhar Mahmood and Yasir Arafat powered Rawalpindi to an imposing 390 for seven against Lahore on the opening day of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy match at the LCCA Ground on Monday.

Babar cracked 23 boundaries and one six to score 149 off 241 balls despite being dropped twice at 44 (by Salman Butt off Mohammad Khalil) and 78 when Kamran Akmal messed up an easy stumping chance off Test off-spinner Saqlain Mushtaq.

Babar was involved in two useful partnerships of 64 with Bilal Asad (32) and 149 for the sixth-wicket with Azhar in 136 minutes. Azhar, struggling to find a place in the Pakistan team, struck 75with thehelp of 16 boundaries. He faced 94 balls. Yasir Arafat was still at the crease with 51, laced with seven fours.

Scoreboard

RAWALPINDI (1st Innings):

Babar Naeem lbw b Imran 149

Afaq Rahim b Wasim 20

Ashar Zaidi lbw b Irfan 4

Bilal Asad lbw b Razzaq 32

Naveed Qureshi c Kamran b Razzaq 0

Shiraz Khalid lbw b Irfan 10

Azhar Mahmood lbw b Saqlain 75

Yasir Arafat not out 51

Junaid Zia not out 17

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-4, W-2, NB-25) 32

TOTAL (for seven wkts, 90 overs) 390

FALL OF WKTS: 1-30, 2-45, 3-109, 4-109, 5-149, 6-308, 7-334.

BOWLING (to-date): Wasim Khan 16-2-63-1; Mohammad Khalil 23-3-92-0; Irfan Fazil 10-0-73-2; Abdul Razzaq 15-1-79-2; Saqlain Mushtaq 19-5-56-1; Imran Farhat 7-2-22-1.

UMPIRES: Afzaal Ahmed and Islam Khan.

MATCH REFEREE: Khateeb Rizwan.