KARACHI: A buccaneering career-best century from Khushdil Shah inspired former Pakistan Cup winners Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to a remarkable four-wicket triumph on Friday night after Punjab had done everything possible to score their first win of the tournament in Rawalpindi.

The left-handed Khushdil, who was mysteriously overlooked for the fourth edition of HBL Pakistan Super League, underlined his immense potential as the 24-year-old from Bannu marked his 50th one-day appearance by producing a high-class innings at the Pindi Cricket Stadium while steering the inaugural champions of this pentangular one-day competition to their second successive victory with an undefeated 154, his seventh List A ton.

Adnan Akmal, the former Test wicket-keeper, also played a wonderful hand by keeping Khushdil the support during their magnificent partnership that began with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in all sorts of trouble at 105-5 midway through the 20th over. But a dramatic turnaround followed as the masterly Khushdil and the determined Adnan took the fight to the opposition.

Punjab captain Kamran Akmal, the oldest of the three Pakistan-playing Akmal brothers, just watched on hopelessly as his bowlers were taken to the cleaners by the belligerence from the bat of Khushdil who simply couldn’t do any wrong. Not only he sailed his previous best List A score of 122 — with a stunning straight six off slow left-armer Mohammad Irfan Sr — but reminded the national selectors that he’s one player that could be considered for international selection in the post-World Cup period.

Undaunted by the dire situation his team was in, Khushdil toyed with the Punjab bowling as nine sixes were belted as if was brushing away a fly. His sensational knock also included 11 boundaries, while it lasted just 96 deliveries.

And Adnan finally played onto his stumps the match was firmly in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s grasp. The wicket-keeper/batsman was selfless in his contribution as the 34-year-old made 79 from 72 balls with nine fours and one six in the marathon sixth-wicket stand of 229 with the man-of-the-match Khushdil.

The start for the 342-run chase was the last thing Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s stand-in skipper Wahab Riaz wanted as Abid Ali was caught behind on the fifth ball of the innings without scoring exactly a week after scoring 112 on his One-day International debut against Australia in Dubai.

After Mohammad Saad (43) and Adil Amin (42) partially stopped the rut, the stage was set for Khushdil and Adnan to give weight to the wise old saying that cricket is a game of glorious uncertainties.

Earlier, Punjab posted 341-6 after being put into bat with Iftikhar Ahmed reaching three figures. He played a pivotal role of an anchor to perfection after coming in at 108-2 — following the dismissal of Khurram Manzoor for crisp 55-ball innings of 57 (seven fours and one six) — to register his seventh century in 77 List A matches as he scored a 101-ball 105 that included 12 fours and one six, while sharing successive century stands with Sami Aslam and Saad Ali.

With Sami (68 off 63 balls, seven fours and two sixes) Iftikhar put on 100 for the third wicket, while Saad (46 off 41, three boundaries) added 105.

Scoreboard

PUNJAB:

Khurram Manzoor c Wahab b Zohaib 57
Kamran Akmal c Adil b Zohaib 30
Sami Aslam c Zohaib b Sohail 68
Iftikhar Ahmed c Zohaib b Wahab 108
Saad Ali c Abid b Sohail 46
Sohail Tanvir c Abid b Sohail 0
Hussain Talat not out 12
Ramiz Aziz not out 13

EXTRAS (LB-2, W-8) 10

TOTAL (for six wkts, 50 overs) 341

FALL OF WKTS: 1-69, 2-108, 3-208, 4-313, 5-314, 6-314.

DID NOT BAT: Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Irfan Sr, Ehsan Adil, Mohammad Asghar.

BOWLING: Sohail Khan 10-0-55-3; Mohammad Musa Khan 9-0-78-0 (2w); Zohaib Khan 10-1-72-2; Wahab Riaz 10-0-55-1 (6w); Adil Amin 3-0-26-0; Khushdil Shah 8-0-53-0.

KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA:

Abid Ali c Kamran b Sohail 0
Zeeshan Malik c Kamran b Ehsan 5
Mohammad Saad run out 43
Adil Amin lbw b Asghar 42
Khushdil Shah not out 154
Faizan Riaz b Hussain 0
Adnan Akmal b Hussain 79
Zohaib Khan not out 5

EXTRAS (B-4, LB-3, W-8, NB-1) 16 TOTAL (for six wkts, 46.3 overs) 343

FALL OF WKTS: 1-0, 2-14, 3-92, 4-104, 5-105, 6-334.

DID NOT BAT: Wahab Riaz, Sohail Khan, Mohammad Musa Khan.

BOWLING: Sohail Tanvir 9-0-41-1 (1w); Ehsan Adil 9-1-69-1 (2w); Mohammad Asghar 7.3-0-61-1 (1w); Hussain Talat 9-1-56-2 (3w); Mohammad Irfan Sr 8-0-71-0 (1nb, 1w); Iftikhar Ahmed 4-0-38-0.

RESULT: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa won by four wickets.

UMPIRES: Ahmed Shahab and Tahir Rashid.

TV UMPIRE: Asif Yaqoob.

MATCH REFEREE: Aziz-ur-Rehman.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Khushdil Shah

SATURDAY’S FIXTURE: Sindh vs Federal Areas (2:00pm PST).

Published in Dawn, April 6th, 2019