KARACHI: Sensible batting from Awais Zia and Zahid Mansoor rescued Rawalpindi from a perilous position after Islamabad held the upper hand in the opening session of the Faysal Bank Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Cricket Championship final in Lahore on Sunday.

Predictably batting was hazardous after Islamabad skipper Imad Wasim, without hesitation, opted to bowl first at the Gaddafi Stadium on a day when sun shone almost throughout for the first time in weeks.

With the early moisture underneath the surface, Islamabad bowlers, led by Shehzad Azam Rana, Junaid Nadir and Mudassar Ali had Rawalpindi batsmen groping hopelessly as the ball darted around.

Shoaib Nasir departed on the second ball of the match when he edged Shehzad to wicket-keeper Mohammad Kashif. The same bowler then got a lucky break thanked to ICC panel umpire Shozab Raza’s lack of decision-making skills.

All-rounder Haseeb Azam, who was once again promoted to No 3, was extremely unfortunate when to his horror Shozab raised his finger to declare him leg-before-wicket to a delivery that struck his thigh guard and was not going to hit the stumps.

If Shozab’s error was bewildering than his colleague Zameer Haider, another Pakistan’s representative on the ICC panel of umpires, provided the shocker of a decision in the penultimate over of the day just after the second new ball arrived.

Awais, batting with great concentration, was deemed leg-before to a Mudassar delivery that was coherently missing the stumps from all possible angles by at least three inches, except in the eyes of umpire Zameer, who incidentally had been involved in a number of dicey verdicts in televised finals of the past several seasons.

This not the first time that the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB) has chosen to become a laughing stock by repeatedly trusting such match officials —in the finals of major domestic competitions — just because they are the nation’s representatives on the international panel.

These umpires had been found wanting even in international games whenever Pakistan played host to foreign sides in the UAE in recent times.

Until that howler from Zameer, Rawalpindi had assumed control of the situation with the partnership between the left-handed Awais, who made a solid 76 from 185 balls in 248 minutes with nine boundaries, and Zahid (60 off 161 balls, 10 fours) was worth 139 priceless runs.

It was a fine recovery from Rawalpindi who were two wickets down for no run by the end of the third over before losing three batsmen for one run to be 49-5.

The departure of Muzammil Nizam left them reeling at 60-6 shortly after lunch before Awais and Zahid cashed in on a big way to guide them to 204-7.

Islamabad suffered a crippling blow in the first session when Shehzad hobbled off the field with a side strain.

They were further depleted, albeit temporarily, by the absence of Mudassar and Junaid and handicapped by some unimaginative captaincy from Imad who looked short of ideas when Awais and Zahid were at the crease.—Khalid H. Khan

Scoreboard

RAWALPINDI (1st Innings):

Shoaib Nasir c Kashif b Shehzad 0

Adnan Mahmood b Mudassar 12

Haseeb Azam lbw b Shehzad 0

Naved Malik c Kashif b Mudassar 33

Babar Naeem c Kashif b Junaid 0

Muzammil Nizam lbw b Junaid 10

Awais Zia lbw b Mudassar 76

Zahid Mansoor not out 60

Talha Qureshi not out 0

EXTRAS (B-8, W-2, NB-3) 13

TOTAL (for seven wkts, 83 overs) 204

FALL OF WKTS: 1-0, 2-0, 3-48, 4-49, 5-49, 6-60, 7-199.

TO BAT: Akhtar Ayub, Nasir Malik.

BOWLING (to-date): Shehzad Azam Rana 8-5-8-2; Junaid Nadir 21.2-7-46-3; Mudassar Ali 24.1-11-63-2; Imad Wasim 14-2-37-0 (2nb); Sarmad Bhatti 10.3-2-23-0 (1w); Moed Ahmed 5-1-19-0 (1nb, 1w).

ISLAMABAD: Afaq Raheem, Zeeshan Ali, Ali Sarfraz, Faizan Riaz, Moed Ahmed, Sarmad Bhatti, Mohammad Kashif, Shehzad Azam Rana, Mudassar Ali, Junaid Nadir.

UMPIRES: Shozab Raza and Zameer Haider.

TV UMPIRE: Ahmed Shahab.

MATCH REFEREE: Khatib Rizwan.