LAHORE - A career-best 249 not out by opener Abid Ali kept Sindh in the driver’s seat against Balochistan on the second day of the four-day first-class Quaid-e-Azam trophy fixture at the UBL Sports Complex on Sunday.

The 31-year-old slapped 26 fours in a 512-ball innings during a 712-minute stay at the crease that propelled the home side to declare their first innings at 473 for five after starting the day at 237 for two. Sindh were 301-3 in 110 overs, which gave them three bonus points – as per the newly-introduced playing conditions in the first-class cricket.

When stumps were drawn for the day, the visitors had reached nine for no loss with Imam-ul-Haq and Azeem Ghumman batting on nine and six. For the second successive day, Abid dominated the proceedings as he showed great footwork and excellent hand-eye coordination during his marathon innings. After he had reached his century yesterday from 219 balls with 10 fours, he completed his double-century from 434 balls with 22 fours.

After putting on 212 runs for the opening wicket with Khurram Manzoor on Saturday, Abid added 97 runs for an unbroken sixth wicket off 158 balls with Sarfaraz Ahmed, who returned unbeaten on 44 from 78 balls with three fours. Asad Shafiq, who had started the day with Abid but retired at the score of eight with a neck pain, returned to the crease at the score of 313 for four and was the fifth batsman to be dismissed at the score of 376 after scoring a 111-ball 37. For Balochistan, Yasir Shah did bulk of the bowling and finished with figures of 47-6-127-3. Khurram Shahzad and Imran Farhat picked up a wicket each, conceding 46 and 51 runs, respectively. By picking up only five wickets, Balochistan got only one bonus point.

BRIEF SCORES

SINDH 1ST INNINGS: 473-5d, 169.5 overs (Abid Ali 249 not out, Khurram Manzoor 105, Sarfaraz Ahmed 44 not out, Asad Shafiq 37; Yasir Shah 3-127)

BALOCHISTAN 1ST INNINGS: 16-0, 8 overs (Imam-ul-Haq 9 not out, Azeem Ghumman 6 not out).