Rahat and Aamer Yamin rock Sindh as Southern Punjab eye victory

Karachi:Discarded Pakistan pacer Rahat Ali and all-rounder Aamer Yamin had Sindh on the ropes on day three as Southern Punjab after enforcing the follow-on took control of the four day first-class Quaid-e-Azam Trophy match at the UBL Complex on Monday.

At close, Sindh were struggling on 58 for three in their second innings after a shaky start as they lost Khurram Manzoor, Abid Ali and skipper, Asad Shafiq within 15 runs.

Rahat and Yamin shared eight wickets on a day dominated by Southern Punjab bowlers.

When stumps were drawn for the day with four overs remaining, Sindh were still 204 runs behind Southern Punjab. Omair bin Yousuf (33) and Fawad Alam (12) batted through, the two have so far added 43 runs for the fourth wicket.

Sindh resuming on 90 for one this morning were bowled out for 284 runs with Rahat finishing with four for 66 and Aamer with two for 26 runs.

Southern Punjab had notched up 546 runs on the first two days with centuries from Shan Masood, Aamer Yamin and Muhammad Irfan after being invited to bat first.

No Sindh batsmen could settle down for a big score once Rahat had the in-form Abid Ali caught behind by Adnan Akmal for 46 early, on the third morning.

Omair bin Yousuf (16), Asad Shafiq (57 from 121 balls with eight fours) and Saad Ali (55 from 110 balls with ten fours) were the main scorers as senior batsman, Fawad Alam fell for just 11, bowled by leg-spinner, Zahid Mahmood.

Shafiq and Saad had a productive fifth wicket stand of 66 runs before Rahat broke it by trapping the latter leg before.

Sindh were bowled out just after tea and asked to bat again by Punjab skipper, Shan Masood who again entrusted Rahat and Aamer with the new ball.

Rahat continued to bowl with fire sending back Khurram Manzoor for a duck caught at square leg while Aamer extracted pace to trap Abid (five) as he played across to square leg.

Aamer also had Asad Shafiq (two) caught at short mid-wicket to a lazy looking shot. Southern Punjab took three bowling points, Sindh on the other hand had to content with two batting points.

Scores in brief:

Southern Punjab 546 all out, 140.2 overs (Aamer Yamin 142, Shan Masood 118, Mohammad Irfan junior 101, Sohaib Maqsood 57; Fawad Alam 2-63, Tabish Khan 2-101, Sohail Khan 2-102)

Sindh 284 all out 99.1 overs (Asad Shafiq 57, Saad Ali 55 Abid Ali 46; Rahat Ali 4-66, Aamer Yamin 2-26) and after follow-on 58 for 3, 20 overs (Omair Bin Yousuf 33 not out; Aamer Yamin 2-23)