MULTAN: Khyber Pakhtun­khwa went down to their first loss in the ongoing National T20 Cup when Central Punjab beat them by 25 runs here at the Multan Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

Central Punjab had posted a mammoth 194-run target for the defending champions after being put in to bat first, thanks to a brilliant second wicket 98-run partnership between opener Mohammad Faizan and one-drop Tayyab Tahir.

Central Punjab were dealt a blow early with the dismissal of Muhammad Akhlaq on the fourth ball, but Faizan and Tayyab, who scored his fourth fifty of the tournament, put a strong counterattack, pushing Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s bowlers on the backfoot.

Faizan scored at a swashbuckling rate of 200 — his 72 off 36 included seven sixes and four fours. Tayyab smashed 75 in 48 (eight fours and four sixes) before he was run out.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa bowlers Maaz Khan and Mohammad Imran came into play in the second part of the innings and shared seven wickets between them. Maaz returned 4-46 and Imran returned 3-30.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s run chase derailed after a promising start with the dismissal of Mohammad Haris (14 off 15). His fellow opener top-scored with 31-ball 47 and was removed in the 11th over with the scorecard reading 77-3.

Mohammad Sarwar Afridi and captain Khalid Usman put a fight in the middle order scoring 28 off 14 and 24 off 16 respectively, but that did not prove to be enough for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Hunain Shah accounted for Sarwar and Maaz, returning 2-28 in his T20 debut. Aamer Yamin and Ali Asfand also took two wickets as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were restricted to 168-9.

This was Central Punjab’s only second win of the tournament.

Earlier, Southern Punjab began the Multan leg of the tournament with a win as they defeated Balochistan by 20 runs (DLS method) as a dust storm at the completion of the sixth over of the run chase ended the match.

Balochistan were bowled out for 144, albeit on the last ball of the innings. Ali Majid took three wickets for 27, Mohammad Ilyas returned 2-19, captain Salman Ali Agha took two wickets for 26 runs and Mohammad Imran picked up his two wickets for 23 runs.

With 27 each, Asad Shafiq and Kashif Bhatti top-scored for Balochistan, while other batters struggled.

Southern Punjab’s run chase was off to a perfect start with Umar Siddiq (32 not out off 20) and Zain Abbas (21 not out off 16) adding 54 runs at the completion of powerplay.

When the dust storm set in, Southern Punjab were 20 runs ahead of Balochistan and were declared winners.

Scores in brief:

CENTRAL PUNJAB 193 in 20 overs (Tayyab Tahir 75, Mohammad Faizan 72; Maaz Khan 4-46, Mohammad Imran 3-30); KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA 168-9 in 20 overs (Sahibzada Farhan 47, Mohammad Sarwar Afridi 28; Ali Asfand 2-14, Hunain Shah 2-28.

BALOCHISTAN 144 in 20 overs (Kashif Bhatti 27 not out, Asad Shafiq 27, Abdul Wahid Bangalzai 25; Ali Majid 3-27, Mohammad Ilyas 2-19, Muhammad Imran 2-23); SOUTHERN PUNJAB 54 in six overs (Umar Siddiq 32 not out, Zain Abbas 21 not out).

Published in Dawn, September 12th, 2022