KARACHI: Upcoming leg-spinning all-rounder Ashar Qureshi underlined his immense potential by picking eight Abbottabad wickets on Wednesday as Karachi Blues held upper hand at the start of their triangular stage fixture in the PCB Under-19 National Cricket Championship.

Abbottabad, who earned three points after drawn triangular series opener against Karachi Whites last week at the Mirpur Cricket Stadium in Mirpur, had no answers to the guiles of Ashar as they were bowled out for 186 after Karachi Blues elected to field first at the toss.

Ashar continued his great wicket-taking form from the group stage during which he bagged 40 wickets in five matches at 10.78 by taking eight for 61 in 31 overs with fellow leg-spinner Kahaf Patel grabbing 2-19 in 7.3 overs.

Abbottabad made a good start in the three-day match as skipper Mohammad Arif (61 off 59 balls, 10 fours and two sixes) and Basit Afridi (39 off 145, three boundaries shared an opening stand of 77.

Basit was also involved in a second-wicket partnership of 60 with Danish Sarhadi (35 off 95, four fours) before the rot set in.

Karachi Blues’ resurgence was completed when they went to stumps at 60-1 after Imran Shah had dominated the first-wicket partnership of 48 with Waleed Khan (16). Imran hammered four fours and hoisted a six in his 39-ball knock of 32 before paceman Arshad Khan had him caught by Mansoor Ali Khan.

Close of play scores on Wednesday (day one of three):

At Mirpur Cricket Stadium, Mirpur: ABBOTTABAD 186 in 68.3 overs (Mohammad Arif 61, Basit Afridi 39, Danish Sarhadi 35; Ashar Qureshi 8-61, Kahaf Patel 2-19); KARACHI BLUES 60-1 in 19 overs (Imran Shah 32).

Published in Dawn, October 5th, 2017