KARACHI, Jan 19 Habib Bank batsmen cashed in on a lacklustre bowling performance from Sialkot to pile up 368-8 on the first day of the RBS Pentangular Cup fourth-round fixture at the National Stadium here on Tuesday.

After being asked to bat first by Sialkot's latest skipper Hafiz Majid Jahangir, openers Shan Masood (61 off 139 balls) and Imran Nazir Jr (44, six fours) put on a partnership of 95. Khaqan Arsal slammed seven boundaries in a breezy 39 off 38 balls before becoming paceman Prince Abbas' third wicket by providing debutant wicket-keeper Bilal Butt his first catch in first-class cricket.

Abdul Rehman, who normally bats in the lower order, enjoyed his promotion to No 4 with an entertaining knock of 58. The left-hander's 70-ball innings featured seven fours and a brace of sixes. Together with Habib Bank captain Hasan Raza, Rehman shared a fourth-wicket stand of 77.

Hasan, sadly out of favour with the national selectors, completed 1,000 runs in the current season as he struck 10 boundaries and two sixes in a 136-ball 75 until he fell to the Bilal-Prince combination.

Former Test stumper Humayun Farhat, playing as a specialist batsman, then bludgeoned a quickfire 34 off 27 balls with the help of six fours.

Prince Abbas finished the day with four for 106 while slow left-armer Nayyar Abbas took 3-95 in 27 overs.

Scoreboard

HABIB BANK (1st Innings)

Shan Masood b Prince 61
Imran Nazir Jr b Prince 44
Khaqan Arsal c Bilal b Prince 39
Abdul Rehman lbw b Nayyar 58
Hasan Raza c Bilal b Prince 75
Humayun Farhat b Nayyar 34
Salman Qadir c Ayub b Nabeel 1
Farhan Iqbal c Ayub b Nayyar 15
Kamran Hussain not out 19

EXTRAS (B-9, LB-2, W-1, NB-10) 22
TOTAL (for eight wkts, 90 overs) 368

FALL OF WKTS 1-95, 2-152, 3-169, 4-236, 5-288, 6-295, 7-320, 8-368.

TO BAT Irfan Fazil, Fahad Masood.

BOWLING (to-date) Prince Abbas 26-2-106-4 (2nb); Hafiz Majid Jahangir 16-3-63-0 (7nb); Aamir Gulzar 8-1-24-0 (1w); Nayyar Abbas 27-4-95-3; Nabeel Malik 13-1-69-1 (1nb).

SIALKOT Rizwan Sultan, Hafiz Majid Jahangir, Faisal Khan, M. Ayub Dogar, Faisal Javed, Mohammad Saeed, Nayyar Abbas, Bilal Butt, Nabeel Malik, Aamir Gulzar, Prince Abbas.

UMPIRES Islam Khan and Shakeel Khan.
MATCH REFEREE Ilyas Khan.