KARACHI: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa held off belated resurgence from Southern Punjab before securing the First XI title of the National T20 Cup with a close 10-run victory in the final that almost went down to the wire in Rawalpindi late on Sunday night.

The title-deciding clash at the Pindi Cricket Stadium thus brought down curtains on the 33-match tournament after the opening 14 fixtures were staged in Multan from Sept 30 to Oct 6 before the remaining 19 games took place in the garrison town.

Predictably enough, most captains winning the toss preferred chasing runs and Shan Masood did exactly that. But the Southern Punjab skipper later admitted the high-voltage atmosphere in a match of this magnitude inevitably proved too much for his side to handle.

Upfront his bowlers had done a brilliant containment job as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa had only managed 133 for the loss of three wickets after 16 overs. But that changed dramatically when Shoaib Malik, appearing in his 401st game in this form of the sport, went ballistic to lift his side past the magical 200-run mark — finishing at 206-4.

Malik and fellow veteran Mohammad Hafeez — playing his 299th T20 match — were assisted on the way by atrocious fielding as several catches were grassed. The pair of ex-Pakistan captains put on 51 in quick time, while the final four overs yielded a remarkable tally of 73 runs, which eventually was the game-changer.

The foundation for the imposing total was provided by the first-wicket partnership of 76 in 9.3 overs between Fakhar Zaman and Mohammad Rizwan. The skipper contributed 25 off 30 balls before he was run out, while Fakhar went past 50 for the fifth time in the tournament and had hit seven fours and three sixes in reaching 67 from 40 deliveries being trapped in front by Aamir Yamin.

The left-handed Fakhar was later declared player-of-the-tournament as well as the best batsman for amassing 420 runs in 12 matches. He was also sharp in the field and later held to a smart catch in the penultimate over of the match.

But it was Malik who upstaged Fakhar for the man-of-the-match award. The 38-year-old smashed four sixes and three fours at the backend to finish undefeated on 56 from just 22 deliveries. The other significant contribution came from the bat of Hafeez as the 40-year-old stalwart struck a brace of sixes and as many fours in making a 26-ball 38.

Barring a forgetful final over of his stint, seamer Aamir bowled well to take 1-37 but Mohammad Abbas was taken to the cleaners by Malik and company. The Test seamer’s four overs cost exactly 50 runs. Pace-bowling all-rounder Mohammad Imran, who later redeemed himself somewhat with the bat, also came in for heavy punishment (1-51 in four overs).

Emerging paceman Mohammad Ilyas and experienced leg-spinner Zahid Mahmood were easily the pick of Southern Punjab bowling. Their combined analysis of eight overs for 60 runs was an admirable effort.

The only chance, Southern Punjab had of winning from this position was to launch their chase on a sound footing. But Shaheen Shah Afridi soon put a full-stop by removing Shan (7) and the in-form Sohaib Maqsood on successive deliveries of his second over. The latter simply had no answer to a searing yorker which pitched on the middle stump.

Fellow left-armer Wahab Riaz put Southern Punjab in further trouble by dismissing Zeeshan Ashraf for 16. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were in complete command when the third wicket fell with the score on 34.

But Hussain Talat and Khushdil Shah were not giving up. The left-handers counterattacked in an act of defiance, while adding 74 runs in 43 balls. However, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa brea­thed a sigh of relief when Khushdil — who was named the probables on Monday for the upcoming ODI and T20 series against the visiting Zimbabwe side — lobbed an easy catch to Asif Afridi inside the circle after Usman Khan Shinwari outfoxed him with a slower ball. Khushdil’s 24-ball 34 included three sixes and two fours.

Hussain, who emerged as the top-scorer with a feisty 33-ball knock of 63 (six fours and three sixes) continued his onslaught and if Malik had not pulled off a magnificent catch on the run at long-on, he may well have got Southern Punjab over the line.

With Khushdil and Hussain back in the dugout, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa bowling unnecessarily got loose at the death and saw Imran blast four sixes and two fours in a 13-ball cameo of 38 in a last-ditch attempt to deny Khyber Pakhtun­khwa running away off with the handsome purse of Rs5 million along with the glittering trophy on a quiet night.

Shaheen and Wahab shared the spoils on the bowling front with identical hauls of 3-38 from four overs apiece as Southern Punjab ended up totalling 196-8.

Southern Punjab, who picked up the runners-up trophy and Rs2.5 million in prize-money, didn’t anything in the end as Rizwan (best wicket-keeper) and Shaheen (best bowler for his rich haul of 20 victims) completed a clean sweep of awards as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa also won the newly-instituted ‘best fielding side of the tournament prize.

Scoreboard

KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA:

Fakhar Zaman lbw b Aamir 67

Mohammad Rizwan run out 25

Mohammad Hafeez c Ilyas b Imran 38

Iftikhar Ahmed c Khushdil b Zahid 1

Shoaib Malik not out 56

Musadiq Ahmed not out 7

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-7, W-2, NB-2) 12

TOTAL (for four wkts, 20 overs) 206

FALL OF WKTS: 1-76 (Rizwan, 9.3 ov), 2-123 (Fakhar, 13.6 ov), 3-126 (Iftikhar, 14.4 ov), 4-177 (Hafeez, 18.4 ov).

DID NOT BAT: Asif Afridi, Wahab Riaz, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Usman Khan Shinwari, Imran Khan.

BOWLING: Aamir Yamin 4-0-37-1 (1nb); Mohammad Abbas 4-0-50-0; Mohammad Ilyas 4-0-28-0; Zahid Mahmood 4-0-32-1 (1w); Mohammad Imran 4-0-51-1 (1nb, 1w).

SOUTHERN PUNJAB:

Shan Masood c Iftikhar b Shaheen 7

Zeeshan Ashraf c sub b Wahab 16

Sohaib Maqsood lbw b Shaheen 0

Hussain Talat c Shoaib b Wahab 63

Khushdil Shah c Asif b Usman 34

Saif Badar st Rizwan b Asif 5

Aamir Yamin c Asif b Wahab 13

Mohammad Imran not out 38

M. Ilyas c Fakhar b Shaheen 5

Zahid Mahmood not out 5

EXTRAS (B-1, LB-4, W-4, NB-1) 10

TOTAL (for eight wkts, 20 overs) 196

FALL OF WKTS: 1-18 (Shan, 2.5 ov), 2-19 (Sohaib, 2.5 ov), 3-34 (Zeeshan, 5.2 ov), 4-108 (Khushdil, 12.2 ov), 5-131 (Hussain, 14.2 ov), 6-137 (Saif, 15.3 ov), 7-162 (Aamir, 17.4 ov), 8-172 (Ilyas, 18.5 ov).

DID NOT BAT: Mohammad Abbas

BOWLING: Shaheen Shah Afridi

4-0-36-3 (1w); Imran Khan 4-0-22-0; Usman Khan Shinwari 4-0-47-1 (1w); Wahab Riaz 4-0-36-3 (1nb, 1w); Shoaib Malik 1-0-15-0; Musadiq Ahmed

1-0-15-0 (1w); Asif Afridi 2-0-20-1.

RESULT: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa won by 10 runs.

UMPIRES: Ahsan Raza and Asif Yaqoob.

TV UMPIRE: Rashid Riaz.

MATCH REFEREE: Mohammad Javed.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Shoaib Malik.

PLAYER-OF-THE-TOURNAMENT: Fakhar Zaman.

Published in Dawn, October 20th, 2020