LAHORE - Both Lahore Region teams Whites and Blues carved out sensational 9-wicket victories in the National Twenty20 Cup 2018-19 matches played at Multan Stadium on Thursday.
In the first match of the day, Umaid Asif bowled Lahore Region Whites to thumping 9-wicket victory over Peshawar Region. Lahore Whites won the toss and opted to field first. Brilliant bowling by hero of Lahore Whites restricted Peshawar Region to paltry 99-8 in 20 overs. Umaid Asif captured four wickets for the winning side conceding 13 runs while he was ably assisted by Zafar Gohar who grabbed three wickets for 12 runs while international bowler Wahab Riaz also got one wicket for 22 runs.
For Peshawar Region, only Saad Ali and Sajid Khan played sensible innings while rest of the batsmen couldn’t contribute good runs and fell cheaply as their team could score meager 99-8 in allotted 20 overs. Saad Ali played 30 balls to score 36 hitting three fours and one six while Sajid Khan slammed 34 off 41 balls with the help of one four.
Lahore Region Whites were off to flying start and lost just one wicket to achieve the required target in 14.2 overs. Tayyab Tahir played swashbuckling knock of 51 runs off 41 balls which included fabulous four boundaries and two towering sixes while Zeeshan Ashraf thwarted unbeaten 39 off 30 balls studded with three smashing sixes. For Peshawar, only Sajid Khan could get one wicket for conceding 30 runs. For his brilliant bowling performance, Umaid Asif was declared as the man of match. Majid Hussain and Ahmed Shahab acted as field umpires while Rashid Riaz performed the duty as TV umpire, Khalid Niazi as referee and Muhammad Atiq as official scorer.
In another match of the day, it was once again Lahore team, Blues, who also registered same 9-wicket triumph against Fata Region team. Lahore Blues won the toss and elected to field first. Put into bat first, Fata Region scored 140-9 in 20 overs. Sohail Akhtar scored 39 off 27 balls hitting three fours and two sixes while Asad Afridi struck 25 off 16 balls with the help of one four and two sixes and Samiullah Junior contributed 20. Hussain Talat was main wrecker-in-chief of Fata batting line up as he bagged 3 wickets for 22 while Waqas Ahmed took 2 for 27 and Muhammad Irfan 1 for 16.
Helped by swashbuckling unbeaten knocks Rizwan Hussain and Hussain Talat, Lahore Region Blues took 18.1 overs to chase down the target of 141 runs for the loss of just one wicket. Rizwan Hussain was more severe with bat as he punished Fata bowlers at his will and played 53 balls to gather unbeaten 68 runs wrapped with 10 boundaries while he was ably assisted by Hussain Talat who slammed 29-ball 35 off hitting one four and one six. Nauman Anwar also contributed 34 runs in his team’s win. For Fata, Khushdil Shah got just one wicket for 17 runs. For his impressive all-round performance, Hussain Talat was named player of the match. Muhammad Sajid and Wasimuddin were field umpires while Ahmed Shahab was TV umpire, Aziz-ur-Rehman referee and Muhammad Akbar official scorer.
SCORES IN BRIEF:
FIRST MATCH
PESHAWAR REGION: 99-8 in 20 overs (Saad Ali 36, 30 balls, 3x4s, 1x6, Sajid Khan 34, 41 balls, 1x4, Umaid Asif 4-13, Zafar Gohar 3-12, Wahab Riaz 1-22)
LAHORE REGION W: 100-1 in 14.2 overs (Tayyab Tahir 51*, 41 balls, 4x4s, 2x6s, Zeeshan Ashraf 39*, 30 balls, 3x6s, Sajid Khan 1-30).
SECOND MATCH
FATA REGION: 140-9 in 20 overs (Sohail Akhtar 39, 27 balls, 3x4s, 2x6s, Asad Afridi 25, 16 balls, 1x4, 2x6s, Samiullah Jr. 20, 25 balls, 1x4, Hussain Talat 3-22, Waqas Ahmed 2-27, Muhammad Irfan 1-16)
LAHORE REGION B: 141-1 in 18.1 overs (Rizwan Hussain 68*, 53 balls, 10x4s, Hussain Talat35*, 29 balls, 1x4, 1x6, Nauman Anwar 34, 28 balls, 4x4s, 2x6s, Khushdil Shah 1-17).