Khyber Pakhtunkhwa clinched the National T20 Cup 2021 with a resounding seven-wicket victory in the tournament final against Central Punjab at the iconic Qaddafi Stadium Lahore on Wednesday night.
Sent into bat first, opener Muhammad Akhlaq couldn't provide a fine start to his team and went back to pavilion without opening his account. Ahmed Shahzad stood firm and pushed the second wicket partnership to 85 with his partner wicket keeper batter Kamran Akmal. Both Shahzad and Akmal were unable to score half centuries. Ahmed scored 44 runs powered by 4 fours and one maximum while his parner made 42 runs with the help of 3 fours and two sixes. After the partnership was broken, Hussain Talat and Badar were unable to establish big partnership. At the end of the first innings, Central Punjab jotted down 148 runs on scoreboard. For Sindh, Muhammd Imran and captain Iftikhar bagged three wickets each.
Chasing the target, Khyber's opener Sahibzada Farhan played the innings of 26 while his partner didn't make more than 10 score. The second wicket partnership of Farhan and Kamran Ghukam gave 47 runs to Khyber. Ghulam dismissed after making 37 runs. After his dismissal, the unbeaten Iftikhar took their side towards triumph with his partner Amin. Iftikhar smashed 6 fours and 2 sixes without losing his wicket. Amin fully supported Iftikhar from the non-striker end and clinched the title. For runner-up, Sameen Gul, Qasim Akram and Muhammad Faizan took one wicket apiece.
Iftikhar Ahmad emerged as player of the match for his slaying performance.