LAHORE, March 5: Fine batting by Rameez Alam and Yasir Arafat Junior enabled Balochistan to pile up 298-7 in their first innings against Punjab on the first day of the Pentangular Cup match at the Jinnah Stadium in Sialkot on Wednesday.

Rameez hit 152-ball 84 while Yasir scored 62 off 101 balls as Balochistan, who are at the bottom in the five-team contest after two defeats, were respectably placed at the end of the day’s play.

Rameez and Yasir steadied the innings after Balochistan had lost opener Usman Tariq — run out for eight — as they added 125 for the second-wicket stand to pull out Balochistan from the early loss.

Yasir, who was bowled by medium-pacer Wahab Riaz, hit eight fours and one six.

Rameez then found good support from Saeed bin Nasir (46, four fours, one six) as the two of them put on 62 for the third wicket.

Rameez, who slammed 15 fours, was dismissed by off-spinner Mohammad Hafeez. His departure triggered a batting collapse as three wickets fell for the addition of 60 runs.

Scoreboard

BALOCHISTAN (1st Innings):

Yasir Arafat Jr b Wahab 62

Usman Tariq run out 8

Rameez Alam b Hafeez 84

Saeed Bin Nasir lbw b Rehman 46

Naseem Khan c Kamran b Wahab 5

Gulraiz Sadaf not out 36

Abdur Rauf b Junaid 15

Tanvir Ahmed c sub b Aizaz 0

EXTRAS (B-15, LB-9, W-1, NB-17) 42

TOTAL (for seven wkts, 90 overs) 298

FALL OF WKTS: 1-21, 2-146, 3-208, 4-228, 5-241, 6-295, 7-288.

TO BAT: Jalat Khan, Imranullah Aslam, Azharullah.

BOWLING (to-date): Wahab Riaz 18-2-53-2 (11nb); Aizaz Cheema 15-2-46-1; Abdul Rehman 23-6-61-1; Junaid Zia 13-2-45-1 (8nb, 1w); Shoaib Malik 9-1-26-0; Mohammad Hafeez 12-0-45-1.

PUNJAB: Salman Butt, Mohammad Hafeez, Nasir Jamshed, Misbah-ul-Haq, Ammar Mahmood, Shoaib Malik, Kamran Akmal, Abdul Rehman, Junaid Zia, Wahab Riaz, Aizaz Cheema.

UMPIRES: Riazuddin and Salim Badar.

MATCH REFEREE: Abdul Sami Khan.

OFFICIAL SCORER: Farrukh Ilyas.

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