RAWALPINDI, Sept 27: Rawalpindi had to pay dearly for the absence of paceman Najaf Shah, called up for Pakistan A duty to Multan, as Lahore Blues cashed in to take a 10-run first innings lead in their National Junior (Under-19) Championship semifinal at the Rawalpindi Stadium Friday.
Najaf, Rawalpindi’s strike bowler had to leave midway on the second day with Lahore struggling at 76 for five after resuming their first innings at the overnight score of 40 for three. As Najaf left after picking up a wicket, Lahore made most of his absence to reach 220 for nine off 80 overs gaining a vital lead.
Rawalpindi had lost further ground by the close and were three down for 70 in their second innings off 23.4 overs. Shoaib Nasir, on 21 and Mazhar Malik, who had yet to score, were at the crease.
Earlier, Atif Ejaz stood out scoring a patient unbeaten half century, his 148-ball knock swinging the pendulum Lahore’s way. He stayed at the crease for a good 208 minutes and frustrated the home bowlers.
Pacer Saad Altaf, who had three overnight wickets to his credit, snapped up another two to finish with five for 75 while Shahid Mahmood picked up two for 37.
Saturday is the final day of the match.
RAWALPINDI (Ist Innings) 210 (Usman Saeed 46; Zeeshan Safeer 6- 50)
LAHORE BLUES (Ist Innings, overnight 40-3)
Adnan Butt c Adnan Naveed b Saad 4
Fahadul Haq c Zahid b Saad 28
Azhar Ali b Saad 6
Adnan Raza b Saad 1
Wahab Riaz c Zahid b Najaf Shah 11
Shah Nawaz Malik c Zahid b Shahid 23
Atif Ejaz not out 50
Muhammad Saeed c Adnan b Shahid 14
Adnan Akmal c Imran b Afzal Javed 29
Zeeshan Safeer lbw b Saad 4
Khurram Irshad not out 13
EXTRAS (b-12, lb-6, w-12, nb-2, pr-5) 37
TOTAL (For nine wkts in 80 overs) 220
FALL OF WKTS: 1-18, 2-27, 3-33, 4-70, 5-76, 6-121, 7-144, 8-180, 9-193
BOWLING: Najaf Shah 21-8-40-1; Saad Altfa 30-2-75-5; Shahid Mehmood 13-3-37-2; Mazhar Malik 2-0-9-0; Afzal Javed 14-4-36-1
RAWALPINDI (2nd Innings)
Waqas Zafar b Khurram Irshad 2
Muhammad Sheraz b M. Saeed 36
Zahid Mehmood c Fahad b Wahab 2
Shoaib Nasir not out 21
Mazhar Malik not out 0
EXTRAS (LB-1, W-2, NB-6) 9
TOTAL (For three wkts in 23.4 overs) 70
FALL OF WKTS: 1-6, 2-15, 3-70
BOWLING: Khurram Irshad 7-2-17-1; Wahab Riaz 9-3-33-1; Azhar Ali 5-2-11-0; Zeeshan Safeer 2-0-5-0; Muhammad Saeed 0.4-0-3-1
UMPIRES: Afzaal Ahmed and Jamil Kamran
MATCH REFEREE: Khateeb Rizwan