LAHORE-Iftikhar Ahmed scored a century and Adil Amin made unbeaten 93 as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa scored a five-wicket victory over Northern in the sixth-round match of the Pakistan Cup One-Day Tournament 2020-21 at the State Bank Stadium on Monday.
According to PCB spokesman, put into bat first, Northern were all out for 324 in 49.2 overs. Openers Haider Ali and Zeeshan Malik added 82 runs for the first-wicket. Zeeshan was the first man dismissed after contributing 18 runs. Haider played some attacking shots in his 95-run innings that was compiled off 87 balls. Umar scored 67 off 85 balls while Rohail Nazir struck 68 and all-rounder Hammad Azam 36. Pacers Irfanullah Shah and Mohammad Imran took four wickets and three wickets respectively. Mohammad Waseem Jnr also took three wickets, conceding 70 runs in his 10 overs.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chased down the total in 48.2 overs with middle-order batsman Adil Amin taking the team past the target in company of captain Khalid Usman (unbeaten 27). Iftikhar Ahmed scored a scintillating 123 off 110 balls. Adil faced 78 balls in his unbeaten 93 while Fakhar Zaman chipped in with 42 runs off 40 balls. Athar Mehmood took three wickets for Northern. This was KP’s fourth win of the tournament; they now have a tally of eight points. Northern have six points from six games.
In other matches, Sindh scored a comprehensive seven-wicket win over Balochistan at the UBL Sports Complex and have now won four out of their six matches and are on track for a place in the tournament semifinals while Central Punjab won the Punjab derby against Southern Punjab by five wickets at the NBP Sports Complex. Central Punjab have now won three consecutive games gathering six points after a poor start to the tournament which saw them lose their first three matches.
SCORES IN BRIEF
KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA 327-5, 48.2 overs (Iftikhar Ahmed 123, Adil Amin 93*, Fakhar Zaman 42; Athar Mehmoood 3-76) beat NORTHERN 324 all out, 49.2 overs (Haider Ali 95, Rohail Nazir 68, Umar Amin 67; Irfanullah Shah 4-68, M Imran 3-64, M Waseem Jr 3-70) by 5 wickets.
SINDH 118-3, 19.5 overs (Khurram Manzoor 56*, Danish Aziz 46*; Taj Wali 3-35) beat BALOCHISTAN 116 all out, 25.3 overs (Imran Farhat 32; Hassan Khan 4-15, Mir Hamza 2-36) by 7 wickets.
CENTRAL PUNJAB 235-5, 45 overs (Usman Salahuddin 67*, Tayyab Tahir 60, Saad Nasim 42; Zahid Mahmood 2-52) beat SOUTHERN PUNJAB 232 all out, 45.2 overs (Mukhtar Ahmed 94, Shan Masood 49; Raza Ali Dar 3-37, Zafar Gohar 3-65) by 5 wickets.