KARACHI: Sindh were guaranteed No.1 slot in the Pakistan Cup after a high-scoring successful chase against Southern Punjab, who despite losing are still in the hunt for the semi-finals along with Northern.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, meanwhile, booked their last-four spot after completing a fifth triumph against Central Punjab, who also are in with a chance of qualifying for the knockout round, provided the defeat the high-flying Sindh in Tuesday’s last round of preliminary fixtures.

Northern finally brought an end to a five-match losing streak — after starting the competition with three straight victories — with a crucial turnaround against the eliminated Balochistan at the NBP Sports Complex.

Balochistan, put in, posted 249-6 on the back of a 136-run partnership for the sixth wicket involving Akbar-ur-Rehman (75 off 89 balls, four boundaries) and Ayaz Tasawwar (unbeaten 82 off 68, six fours and two sixes).

Northern managed to get the over the line with20 deliveries to spare with youngsters Haider Ali (53) and man-of-the-match Rohail Nazir (undefeated 69) starring for them.

The avalanche of runs continued on the SBP Sports Complex featherbed as Sindh and Southern Punjab combined to pile up a grand total of 797 runs in 96.5 overs. After losing the toss, Southern Punjab hit their away to 348-4 in 50 overs.

The foundation was laid out by skipper Shan Masood and Sohaib Maqsood, who shared a massive second-wicket partnership of exactly 200, with both men striking contrasting tons. While Shan struck a 141-ball 125 (13 fours and one six), Sohaib bludgeoned 10 sixes and nine fours in making a whirlwind 130. But their heroics failed to stop Sindh from sealing their seventh success with 19 balls to spare.

Four of the Sindh batsmen scored more than 50 but the game-changing stand was the unbroken stand of 145 between joint winners of the man-of-the-match award Saad Ali (78 off 54, nine fours and one six) and captain Anwar Ali (69 off 34, five sixes and three fours), while other main contributors were Asad Shafiq (62 off 61, seven boundaries) and Danish Aziz (64 off 61, eight fours and one six).

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa posted 328-9 after they were inserted in at the UBL Sports Complex by Central Punjab. Fakhar Zaman (92 off 95, eight fours and three sixes) and man-of-the-match Iftikhar Ahmed (76 off 71, five sixes and four fours) put on 145 for the third wicket but the icing on the cake was decorated by Adil Amin’s 43-ball 51 (three sixes and two fours).

Central Punjab managed only 259 in reply to lose by 69 runs with Iftikhar taking 4-47 in his 10 overs of off-spinners.

Results on Sunday:

Ninth round:

At SBP Sports Complex, Karachi: Sindh beat Southern Punjab by five wickets.

SOUTHERN PUNJAB 348-4 in 50 overs (Sohaib Maqsood 130, Shan Masood 125, Hussain Talat 46 not out, Mukhtar Ahmed 30; Mohammad Hasnain 2-38); SINDH 349-5 in 46.5 overs (Saad Ali 78 not out, Anwar Ali 69 not out, Danish Aziz 65, Asad Shafiq 62, Khurram Manzoor 34; Mohammad Abbas 2-62).

At UBL Sports Complex, Karachi: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa beat Central Punjab by five 69 runs.

KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA 328-9 in 50 overs (Fakhar Zaman 92, Iftikhar Ahmed 76, Adil Amin 51, Khalid Usman 30, Mohammad Haris 20 not out; Zafar Gohar 3-49, Qasim Akram 2-36); CENTRAL PUNJAB 259 in 44.3 overs (Qasim Akram 67, Raza Ali Dar 50, Rizwan Hussain 46, Saad Nasim 24, Zafar Gohar 24; Iftikhar Ahmed 4-47, Asif Afridi 3-65, Imran Khan 2-56).

At NBP Sports Complex, Karachi: Northern beat Balochistan by six wickets.

BALOCHISTAN 249-6 in 50 overs (Ayaz Tasawwar 82 not out, Akbar-ur-Rehman 75, Imran Farhat 48; Athar Mahmood 2-54, Waqas Ahmed 2-65); NORTHERN 252-4 in 46.4 overs (Rohail Nazir 69 not out, Haider Ali 53, Umar Amin 47, Hammad Azam 30 not out, Taimoor Sultan 24; Mohammad Junaid 2-49).

Tuesday’s fixtures (matches start at 9:30am PST): Khyber Pakhtunkhwa vs Balochistan (SBP Sports Complex, Karachi); Southern Punjab vs Northern (UBL Sports Complex, Karachi);

Sindh vs Central Punjab (NBP Sports Complex, Karachi).

Current standings

(Tabulated under played, won, lost, points, net run-rate):

Sindh 9 7 2 14 +0.952

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 9 5 4 10 +0.293

Southern Punjab 9 4 5 8 +0.108

Northern 9 4 5 8 -0.161

Central Punjab 9 4 5 8 -0.388

Balochistan 9 3 6 6 -0.718

Published in Dawn, January 25th, 2021