KARACHI, Feb 3: A century partnership between Saeed bin Nasir and Misbah-ul-Haq dug Khan Research Laboratories (KRL) of a deep hole on the opening day of the four-day Quaid-i-Azam Trophy semifinal against Faisalabad at National Stadium on Monday.
After being sent into bat KRL were reeling at 38 for three.
But then Saeed bin Nasir and the in-form Misbah came together in a fourth-wicket stand that yielded 136 runs in 152 minutes. KRL ended the day on a healthy 263 for six in their first innings.
Misbah fell after hitting 13 boundaries in a 116-ball 68, caught behind by Mohammad Zaman to provide medium-pacer Moazzam Ali his third wicket of the day.
Saeed missed a coveted century by just 13 runs when he caught at the wicket off medium-pacer Tauqir Hussain. Saeed’s 152-ball knock in a stay of three hours and 44 minutes included 13 fours.
Skipper Ali Naqvi kept the momentum going in a cameo contribution of 33 off 49 balls and sent the ball four times to the fence before being trapped in front by slow left-arm spin of Farooq Iqbal.
Earlier, Moazzam was on a roll as Faisalabad, without a doubt, dominated the first session which saw KRL muster only 65 runs while losing those three wickets. Moazzam saw off the openers Mohammad Ramzan (4) and Saeed Anwar Jr (9) while Nadeem Afzal, who opened the bowling, got rid of Intikhab Alam for 20.
Scoreboard
KRL (1st Innings):
Mohammad Ramzan c Asif b Moazzam 4
Saeed Anwar Jr c Wasim b Moazzam 9
Intikhab Alam lbw b Nadeem 20
Saeed bin Nasir c Zaman b Tauqir 87
Misbah-ul-Haq c Zaman b Moazzam 68
Ali Naqvi lbw b Farooq 33
Yasir Arafat not out 27
Naeem Akhtar not out 4
EXTRAS (B-4, LB-5, NB-2) 11
TOTAL (for six wkts, 83 overs) 263
FALL OF WKTS: 1-5, 2-26, 38, 4-174, 5-211, 6-239.
TO BAT: Zulfiqar Jan, Jaffar Nazir, Mohammad Asif.
BOWLING (to-date): Nadeem Afzal 17-5-42-1; Moazzam Ali 24-3-88-3 (2nb); Tauqir Hussain 15-4-58-1; Farooq Iqbal 18-8-37-1; Zeeshan Asif 2-0-17-0; Wasim Haider 6-1-12-0; Asif Hussain 1-1-0-0.
FAISALABAD: Wasim Haider (captain), Hasnain Haider, Zeeshan Asif, Asif Hussain, Sami-ul-Haq, Mohammad Salman, Mohammad Zaman, Farooq Iqbal, Moazzam Ali, Tauqir Hussain, Nadeem Afzal.
UMPIRES: Salim Badar and Mian Aslam.
MATCH REFEREE: Azhar Khan.