KARACHI: Mohammad Rizwan and Adil Amin shared a match-winning partnership to help Khyber Pakhtunkhwa condemn Sindh to a second successive defeat in the PCB Taqreebat-e-Azadi T20 Cup at the National Stadium here on Sunday.

Rizwan struck the ball crisply to score an entertaining 44 — the right-hander’s 30-ball knock containing three boundaries and one six — after having joined Adil, who contributed run-a-ball 26 with three fours, in a stand worth 71 in 52 deliveries.

Apart from Rizwan and Adil, Fakhar Zaman also played a handy innings against his former team-mates. The upcoming left-hander struck three fours and one six in scoring 33 from 31 balls.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa finally got home with three balls left in the final over to win by four wickets, while leaving their rivals in a state of shock after Sindh also lost the series opener to Balochistan in Quetta by a heavy margin last Wednesday.

Even the presence of Shahid Afridi, whose presence delighted a sparse turnout of around 200 people, failed to lift Sindh’s spirits after the charismatic Pakistan all-rounder chose to let Fawad Alam carry on with the captaincy duties.

Sindh struggled in the early overs as Umar Gul, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa skipper, struck the first over after seeing Sharjeel Khan slammed two back-to-back boundaries.

Khalid Latif was then forced to retire with a sore thumb after completing the third run for his young partner Faraz Ali when he bumped straight into wicket-keeper Rizwan who had rushed to the stumps to collect the incoming throw from the deep.

Faisal Iqbal never got going and perished, bowled behind his legs, to angling deliver from left-arm speedster Usman Khan Shinwari. Afridi (11 off seven balls, two fours) then left his fans disappointed when he played back to Raza Hasan and saw the ball ricochet off his pads onto the stumps

At 31-3 it seemed Sindh would do well to reach 100 from that point onwards. But Fawad and Anwar Ali, who is rapidly coming of age as a dependable batsman, came together to put on 92 in 58 balls with the big-hitting Anwar overshadowing his Pakistan team-mate.

The sensible approach of Anwar suggested that he could easily become a batting all-rounder rather than the other way round as he continues the battle to become a regular fixture in the national side. Of the 36 balls the tall right-hander received, six were deposited over the boundary with the spinners Raza Hasan and Yasir Shah both being hoisted for a brace of sixes in their respective last over.

The partnership was ended by a brilliant piece of fielding when Usman’s throw to Rizwan found Fawad (28 off 29 balls, one four) inches short of the crease, leaving TV umpire Tahir Rasheed with an easy verdict.

Anwar, who beat Rizwan to the man-of-the-match award, then holed out to Yasir Hameed just inside the ropes after having made a career-best 65 — which was also his maiden T20 half-century — that also included a brace of boundaries.

The series now moves to Faisalabad where Punjab face Balochistan after the PCB opted to shift Monday’s fixture from Rawalpindi owing to law and order situation.

Scoreboard

SINDH:

Sharjeel Khan b Umar Gul8

Khalid Latif not out5

Faraz Ali run out8

Faisal Iqbal b Usman6

Shahid Afridi b Raza11

Fawad Alam run out28

Anwar Ali c Yasir Hameed b Usman65

Sohail Khan not out3

EXTRAS (LB-6, W-5)11

TOTAL (for six wkts, 20 overs)145

FALL OF WKTS: 1-8, 2-31, 3-31, 4-45, 5-137, 6-140.

DID NOT BAT: Mohammad Hasan, Atif Maqbool, Mir Hamza.

BOWLING: Umar Gul 3-0-10-1; Usman Khan Shinwari 4-0-25-2; Imran Khan 3-0-19-0 (1w); Raza Hasan 4-0-31-1 (3w); Yasir Shah 4-0-37-0 (1w); Hammad Azam 2-0-17-0.

NOTE: Khalid Latif (2) retired hurt at 18-1 and resumed at 137-5.

KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA:

Yasir Hameed c Faraz b Mir Hamza18

Fakhar Zaman c sub (Ahsan Ali) b Atif33

Afaq Raheem b Afridi9

Adil Amin c Sharjeel b Atif26

Mohammad Rizwan b Sohail44

Hammad Azam not out5

Yasir Shah not out1

EXTRAS (LB-6, W-4)10

TOTAL (for six wkts, 19.3 overs)146

FALL OF WKTS: 1-35, 2-60, 3-68, 4-139, 5-141.

DID NOT BAT: Imran Khan, Raza Hasan, Usman Khan Shinwari.

BOWLING: Mir Hamza 4-0-22-1; Anwar Ali 3-0-33-0 (1w); Atif Maqbool 4-0-26-2 (1w); Shahid Afridi 4-0-25-1 (1w); Sohail Khan 3.3-0-27-1; Faisal Iqbal 1-0-7-0.

RESULT: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa won by four wickets.

UMPIRES: Riazuddin and Khalid Mahmood.

TV UMPIRE: Tahir Rasheed.

OFFICIAL SCORER: Syed Imran Ali.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Anwar Ali.

Published in Dawn, Aug 11th, 2014