KARACHI: No pain, no gain is a well-known proverb.

And it earned Fakhar Zaman ample reward as the left-hander overcame a painful blow to his thumb by playing a significant part in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s triumph at the National T20 Cup in Rawalpindi late on Thursday night.

The result also brought an end to Sindh’s three-match winning streak at the Pindi Cricket Stadium where Sarfaraz Ahmed’s men suffered a six-wicket defeat.

The encounter between these sides of late has been often labelled as a Sarfaraz vs Rizwan battle for obvious reason. While Sarfaraz is no longer in the Twenty20 World Cup frame, Rizwan is an undisputed selection since he replaced the ex-Pakistan skipper as the wicket-keeper/batter for international duty in the closing months of 2019.

But ironically enough, both captains failed with the bat in this fixture. Sarfaraz was stumped by his nemesis for a second-ball duck before Rizwan was controversially declared LBW — the ball clearly pitched outside the pitch tramline — for one.

Fakhar, however, was in no mood to surrender after being struck on the hand by a rapid Mohammad Hasnain delivery, which required medical attention. The opener deposited the next three balls for sixes — as the second over yielded 28 runs — in an emphatic reminder to the selectors who had named him as travelling reserve for the upcoming World Cup.

Together with Sahibzada Farhan, Fakhar ensured Khyber Pakhtunkhwa remain on course after setting the stage with 49 off 32 balls with 40 of the runs coming via four sixes and as many fours.

Farhan maintained the tempo nicely by striking three sixes and three fours while adding 48 for the third wicket Adil Amin (26 off 19 balls). The winning runs came with a six when Iftikhar Ahmed blasted Sharjeel Khan’s occasional leg-spin straight over the long on area.

Earlier, Khurram Manzoor was the cornerstone of Sindh’s innings after Sarfaraz chose to bat first. The Pakistan discard scored a 37-ball 54 that included nine boundaries. Sharjeel once again flattered to deceive when he was caught behind off Arshad Iqbal for a 20-ball 25.

And although Saud Shakeel hit up 32 (26 balls, four fours), Sindh were still curtailed to 150-7.

Despite losing, Sindh retain their top spot on the table on net run-rate, followed by Northern and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with all three teams winning three of their four fixtures so far in the competition.

Scoreboard

SINDH:

Shan Masood b Asif 13

Sharjeel Khan c Rizwan b Arshad 25

Khurram Manzoor lbw b Wasim 54

Sarfaraz Ahmed st Rizwan b Asif 0

Saud Shakeel c Adil b Imran 32

Danish Aziz c Farhan b Imran 0

Anwar Ali not out 15

Rumman Raees Khan run out 10

Zahid Mahmood not out 0

EXTRAS (LB-1) 1

TOTAL (for seven wkts, 20 overs) 150

FALL OF WKTS: 1-33, 2-41, 3-41, 4-97, 5-97, 6-132, 7-144.

DID NOT BAT: Mohammad Hasnain, Shahnawaz Dahani.

BOWLING: Shaheen Shah Afridi 4-0-48-0; Imran Khan 4-0-24-2; Arshad Iqbal 3-0-19-1; Iftikhar Ahmed 2-0-9-0; Asif Afridi 3-0-20-2; Mohammad Wasim 4-0-29-1.

KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA:

Fakhar Zaman lbw b Zahid 49

M. Rizwan lbw b Rumman 1

Sahibzada Farhan c Sharjeel b Anwar 45

Adil Amin st Sarfaraz b Danish 26

Iftikhar Ahmed not out 9

Musadiq Ahmed not out 16

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-9) 10

TOTAL (for four wkts, 17.4 overs) 156

FALL OF WKTS: 1-36, 2-73, 3-131, 4-131.

DID NOT BAT: Mohammad Wasim, Asif Afridi, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Arshad Iqbal, Imran Khan.

BOWLING: Anwar Ali 2-0-11-1; Mohammad Hasnain 2-0-32-0 (1w); Rumman Raees Khan 2-0-10-1; Shahnawaz Dahani 3-0-25-0 (2w); Zahid Mahmood 4-0-40-1 (1w); Danish Aziz 3-0-22-1; Saud Shakeel 1-0-8-0; Sharjeel Khan 0.4-0-7-0.

RESULT: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa won by six wickets.

UMPIRES: Imtiaz Iqbal and Qaiser Waheed.

TV UMPIRE: Saqib Khan

MATCH REFEREE: Iftikhar Ahmed.

PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Fakhar Zaman (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa).

Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2021