MULTAN-Khyber Pukhtunkhaw defeated Sindh by eight wickets after best performance by Muhammad Hafeez and Fakhar Zaman, who provided 100 runs partnership, a solid foundation for victory, and thus, KPK secured second position at points table in the National T20 Cricket Cup, being played at Multan Cricket Stadium.
Playing first, Sindh Cricket Team scored 183 runs. Opener Sharjeel Khan demonstrated outstanding performance and scored 90 runs, off 46 balls. Similarly, Ehsan Ali also scored 42 runs. However, the other batsmen of Sindh could not stand against pacer Shaheen Afridi. Afridi got five wickets against 21 runs. He restricted Sindh to 183 runs only.
In reply, KPK chased the target with six balls to spare while losing two wickets only, Opening batsman Fakhar Zaman and veteran all-rounder Mohammad Hafeez performed well and guided their team to great victory by eight wickets. Zaman scored 61 off 41 balls with the help of six fours and two sixes whereas Hafeez scored 72 off 42, with the help of four sixes and four fours.
Shaheen Shah Afridi won the title for man of the match. Overall, he got 12 wickets in the on-going tournament. It is second time in the tournament that he secured five wickets in a match. He also vowed to get more wickets in the coming matches.
Scorecard
SINDH:
Khurram Manzoor b Shaheen Shah.......... 17
Sharjeel Khan b Shaheen Shah................ 90
Azam Khan c Hafeez b Shaheen................. 3
Sarfaraz c Rizwan b Wahab Riaz................. 2
Ahsan Ali c Iftikhar b Asif Afridi................... 42
Anwar Ali c Asif Afridi b Shaheen............... 12
Danish Aziz not out................................... 6
Sohail Khan b Shaheen Shah.................... 0
Extras: (lb 6, nb 1, w 4).............................. 11
TOTAL: (7 wkts, 20 Overs)...................... 183
FOW: 1-19, 2-38, 3-54, 4-165, 5-165, 6-182, 7-183
BOWLING: Mohammad Hafeez 1-0-14-0, Shaheen Shah Afridi 4-0-21-5, Junaid Khan 4-0-44-0, Wahab Riaz 4-0-31-1, Asif Afridi 4-0-33-1, Iftikhar Ahmed 2-0-26-0, Shoaib Malik 1-0-8-0
KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA:
Fakhar Zaman c Manzoor b Anwar Ali........ 61
Mohammad Rizwan b Anwar Ali................. 8
Mohammad Hafeez not out...................... 72
Iftikhar Ahmed not out.............................. 40
Extras: (lb 1, w 2)....................................... 3
TOTAL: (2 wkts, 19 Overs)...................... 184
FOW: 1-24, 2-124
BOWLING: Sohail Khan 4-0-37-0, Mohammad Asghar 3-0-38-0, Mir Hamza 4-0-41-0, Anwar Ali 4-0-40-2, Hassan Khan 4-0-27-0
Toss: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa