KARACHI: Paceman Aizaz Cheema celebrated his inclusion the 30-man Pakistan's preliminary World Cup squad by capturing seven wickets on Thursday as PIA seized command of the Quaid-i-Azam Trophy National Championship Division One fixture against Karachi Blues. The outgoing champions subsided inside 47 overs for 146 after PIA skipper Kamran Sajid elected to bowl first at the National Stadium.
PIA, who need maximum points to qualify for next week's final against Habib Bank at the same venue, had already taken lead on the first innings by reaching stumps at 155-3.
Despite losing three wickets for 53 runs, PIA moved in front through the unbroken partnership of 102 between opener Agha Sabir (74) and Faisal Iqbal (49).
Aizaz was unplayable as he sliced through the Blues' middle-order to claim seven for 65 in 14 overs. Bowling to a probing line and length, the 31-year-old Sargodha-born paceman bowled five batsmen and trapped Mohammad Bilal in front for a second-ball duck.
Only promising Rameez Raja showed stomach for the PIA bowling in a 63-ball knock of 54.
Scoreboard
KARACHI BLUES(1st Innings):Hafiz Asad Baig c Tahir b Najaf 1Rameez Raja retired hurt 54Murtaza Majeed b Aizaz 5Akbar-ur-Rehman b Aizaz 30Saeed bin Nasir b Aizaz 24Atif Ali Zaidi c Sarfraz b Aizaz 0Mohammad Bilal lbw b Aizaz 0Owais Ahmed Rehmani b Aizaz 0Babar Rehman b Aizaz 25Tabish Khan c Najaf b Kamran 5Malik Aftab not out 0EXTRAS: (LB-1, NB-1) 2TOTAL: (all out, 46.5 overs) 146FALL OF WKTS: 1-2, 2-30, 3-92, 4-94, 5-94, 6-94, 7-141, 8-142, 9-146.BOWLING: Najaf Shah 9-2-25-1; Anwar Ali 9-2-19-0; Aizaz Cheema 14-1-65-7; Kamran Sajid 5.5-1-19-1; Shoaib Malik 9-4-17-0 (1nb).PIA(1st Innings):Agha Sabir not out 74Sarfraz Ahmed c Akbar b Tabish 7Kamran Sajid b Malik Aftab 4Shoaib Malik c Owais b Akbar 21Faisal Iqbal not out 49EXTRAS: 0TOTAL: (for three wkts, 36 overs) 155FALL OF WKTS: 1-8, 2-23, 3-53.TO BAT: Fahad Iqbal, Shaharyar Ghani, Tahir Khan, Anwar Ali, Aizaz Cheema, Najaf Shah.BOWLING: (to-date): Malik Aftab 12-3-33-1; Tabish Khan 4-0-28-1; Babar Rehman 6-1-21-0; Akbar-ur-Rehman 8-0-43-1; Hafiz Asad Baig 4-0-17-0; Saeed bin Nasir 2-0-13-0.UMPIRES: Ahmed Shahab and Anis-ur-Rehman.MATCH REFEREE: Naeem Ahmed.
