Match Details
Akshay: That’s the end of the game. Central
Punjab beat Khyber Pakhtunkhwa comprehensively by 25 runs to hand them their
first loss of this year’s competition. Central Punjab stay alive in the
competition on the back of a solid all-round performance.
Chasing a mammoth 194, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s openers got them
off to a steady start. Sahibzada Farhan and Mohammad Haris took their time to
get set. Haris departed on 14 in the last over of the powerplay. The spinners
came into the attack and kept a check on the scoring rate. KP kept losing
wickets at regular intervals.
Farhan looked good for his 47 but departed in trying to up
the ante. Skipper Khalid Usman (24 off 16 balls) and Mohammad Sarwar (28 off 14
balls) played some cameos but it was too much to do in the end as they finished
their innings on 168/9, losing the game by 25 runs. Aamer Yamin, Hunain Shah,
and Ali Asfand picked up two wickets each which helped them defend the total
successfully to stay alive in the competition.
Earlier, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa skipper Khalid Usman won the toss
and opted to bowl first. Imran Khan Sr dismissed Mohammad Akhlaq in the very
first over on a duck. Tayyab Tahir joined hands with Muhammad Faizan and led
the recovery work. Faizan took on the bowling from the word go and never
allowed the KP bowlers to settle in. He brought up his fifty in no time and
Tahir played the role of a second fiddle to perfection.
Faizan’s knock of 72 off 36 balls came to an end in the 11th over. It helped KP to pull back things and Maaz Khan picked up four
wickets in a space of two overs. Tahir was looking strong from the other end
but lacked support from the other end. He brought up his fifty and teed off in
the end as he scored 75 to help his side post 193 on the board. Muhammad Imran
Jnr finished with three scalps for KP whereas Maaz with four. They conceded too
many in the death overs as they failed to chase down the target set by Central
Punjab.