ABBOTTABAD: Awais Ali and Mohammad Ali’s four-wicket hauls, followed by a strong start by the openers put Sialkot in a dominant position on the opening day of the Quaid-e-Azam Trophy (QEAT) triangular stage fixture against Peshawar here at Abbottabad Cricket Stadium on Tuesday.
Opting to bat first, Peshawar were bowled out for a mere 171 in 46.1 overs.
Peshawar had a shaky start to their innings as their batting unit struggled against a disciplined Sialkot bowling attack.
Coming out to bat at number four, Ubaidullah remained the top-scorer for Peshawar with a cautious 35 runs off 44 balls with the help of eight boundaries.
Besides him, Zubair Khan (23), Mohammad Amir Khan (21) and Abuzar Tariq (20) were the other batters to breach the 20-run barrier while the rest were clueless against Sialkot’s bowlers.
For Sialkot, Ali and Awais bagged four wickets each, while Shoaib Akhtar contributed with two.
In response, Sialkot openers Azan Awais and Ashir Mehmood’s provided a solid platform with an unbeaten 74 runs in 20.3 overs when the stumps were drawn early due to bad light.
Azan scored an unbeaten 38 off 63 balls, smashing six boundaries, while Ashir had made 31 not out in 61 balls with the help of five fours.
Sialkot will resume their first innings, trailing by just 97 runs with all ten wickets in hand.
