LAHORE, Nov 14: Punjab were on verge of scoring their first victory in the RBS Pentangular Cup after fine bowling by Abdur Rehman and Wahab Riaz forced Balochistan to follow-on on the penultimate day of the four-day match at the Gaddafi Stadium here on Friday.
Slow left-armer Abdur Rehman snared four for 85 and left-arm paceman Wahab took three for 43 as Balochistan were all out for 271 in reply to Punjab’s massive first-innings total of 526 for eight declared.
By close of play, the visitors were 42-2 after losing both openers, Shoaib Khan and Usman Tariq, to off-spinner Mohammad Hafeez. They still need 213 runs to avoid an innings defeat.
Having resumed at 50 for two, Balochistan needed a couple of their batsmen to play long innings. But this never materialised as wickets fell frequently with Wahab removing Rameez Alam (44), stand-in skipper Saeed bin Nasir (34) and Saeed Anwar Jr (18).
Abdur Rehman then dismissed top-scorer Bilal Khilji (70 with eight fours and one six) and the tail as Balochistan finished 255 runs behind on the first innings.
Scoreboard
PUNJAB (1st Innings) 526-8 declared (Adnan Raza 113, Ayub Dogar 117, Azhar Ali 104, Khurram Shahzad 93 not out).
BALOCHISTAN (1st Innings, overnight 50-2):
Shoaib Khan c Rehman b Hafeez 23
Usman Tariq c Hafeez b Rehman 12
Saeed Anwar Jr c Azhar b Wahab 18
Rameez Alam c Ayub b Wahab 44
Saeed bin Nasir c Ayub b Talha 34
Bilal Khilji c and b Rehman 70
Kamran Hussain b Wahab 4
Gulraiz Sadaf lbw b Rehman 11
Zulfiqar Babar lbw b Rehman 17
Asad Ali c and b Hafeez 6
Azharullah not out 0
EXTRAS (B-10, LB-9, W-1 NB-12) 32
TOTAL (all out, 81.4 overs) 271
FALL OF WKTS: 1-41, 2-41, 3-95, 4-146, 5-188, 6-192, 7-204, 8-232, 9-257.
BOWLING: Mohammad Talha 18-3-78-1 (8nb); Imran Ali 8-4-11-0; Mohammad Hafeez 19-8-35-2; Abdur Rehman 23.4-7-85-4; Wahab Riaz 13-1-43-3 (4nb, 1w).
BALOCHISTAN (2nd innings, following-on):
Shoaib Khan lbw b Hafeez 20
Usman Tariq lbw b Hafeez 20
Bilal Khilji not out 1
Zulfiqar Babar not out 0
EXTRAS (NB-1) 1
TOTAL (for two wkts, 14.2 overs) 42
FALL OF WKTS: 1-41, 2-42.
BOWLING (to-date): Imran Ali 5-1-15-0; Mohammad Talha 2-1-8-0 (1nb); Mohammad Hafeez 4-1-11-2; Abdur Rehman 2.2-0-7-0; Wahab Riaz 1-0-1-0.
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