KARACHI: Pakistan cricket unearthed another Imran Khan when the debutant paceman grabbed a four-wicket haul as Peshawar Panthers comfortably defeated Lahore Eagles by seven wickets in the AlBaraka Bank presents Haier T20 Cup tie on Monday night.

Imran, a 26-year-old who hails from Swat valley in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, returned excellent figures of four for 25 to limit the Eagles to 128 all out after Panthers skipper Zohaib Khan opted to bowl first at the toss.

After Taj Wali, who claimed 2-20, sent back Eagles captain Imran Farhat (27 off 15, six boundaries), left-armer Imran dismissed Taufiq Umar (11), Adnan Akmal and Usman Qadir in a dream spell.

Raza Ali Dar made 33 (35 balls) but it was not enough to challenge the Panthers who then thrived on a 91-run partnership in 87 deliveries between Iftikhar Ahmed (51 not out off 49, four fours and two sixes0 and Mohammad Fayyaz (run-a-ball 41, two fours and one six) to seal the victory.

Imran was adjudged man-of-the-match.

Scoreboard

LAHORE EAGLES:

Imran Farhat c Adil b Taj 27Taufiq Umar b Imran Jr 11Sami Aslam c Fayyaz b Iftikhar 10Hussain Talat b Adil 18Raza Ali Dar b Taj 33Mohammad Naeem run out 13Adnan Akmal c Zohaib b Imran Jr 2Usman Qadir b Imran Jr 1Zafar Gohar b Imran Jr 4Usman Malik not out 1Zia-ul-Haq run out 1

EXTRAS (LB-1, W2, NB-4) 7

TOTAL (all out, 20 overs) 128

FALL OF WKTS: 1-34, 2-39, 3-65, 4-71, 5-86, 6-106, 7-116, 8-124, 9-124.

BOWLING: Mohammad Imran Khan 3-0-28-0; Taj Wali 4-0-20-2 (2w); Imran Khan Jr 4-0-25-4 (2nb); Adil Amin 3-0-13-1; Zohaib Khan 3-0-26-0; Iftikhar Ahmed 3-0-15-1.

PESHAWAR PANTHERS:

Riffatullah Mohmand b Zia-ul-Haq 23Israrullah b Zia-ul-Haq 1Iftikhar Ahmed b Zia-ul-Haq 51Mohammad Fayyaz not out 41Zohaib Khan not out 0

EXTRAS (LB-2, W-2) 4

TOTAL (for three wkts, 19 overs) 129

FALL OF WKTS: 1-24, 2-29, 3-120.

DID NOT BAT: Jamaluddin, Adil Amin, Mohammad Rizwan, Taj Wali, Mohammad Imran Khan, Imran Khan Jr.

BOWLING: Raza Ali Dar 4-0-20-0; Zia-ul-Haq 4-0-36-3; Usman Qadir 3-0-19-0 (1w); Zafar Gohar 4-0-25-0 (1w); Usman Malik 4-0-27-0.

RESULT: Peshawar Panthers won by seven wickets.

UMPIRES: Aftab Gillani and Riazuddin.

TV UMPIRE: Zameer Haider.

MATCH REFEREE: Iqbal Sheikh.

MAN-OF-THE-MATCH: Imran Khan Jr.

Published in Dawn, September 24th, 2014