Ashraf hits ton as Tigers beat Lions by five wickets

Zeeshan Ashraf starred with an unbeaten 107-run knock as Muzaffarabad Tigers beat Kotli Lions by five wickets in the ongoing Kashmir Premier League (KPL) on Tuesday.

Chasing a target of 195 runs, Ashraf was in attack mode from the get go and took Tigers to 50 inside the powerplay. Despite losing his opening partner, Taimoor Sultan, for 4, the left-hander kept accelerating.

Tigers kept losing wickets at regular intervals, but it didn’t slow down Ashraf, who reached his century in just 58 balls.

Ashraf got much needed support from the lower-order in the shape of Anwar Ali (15 runs in 9 balls) and Mohammad Wasim Jnr (19* in 6 balls), who played blistering cameos to take Tigers over the finish line with nine balls to spare.

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Batting first, Lions posted 195/4 in their allotted 20 overs with middle-order batsman Asif Ali top-scoring with 67 runs off 34 balls.

Opener Abdullah Syed scored 35 in 16 balls to give an ideal start to Lions.

Saif Badar struggled to get going as he scored 28 not out from 30 balls. However, a late cameo of 19 runs from 8 deliveries from Khalid Usman helped Lions finish on a high momentum.

Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Mohammad Hafeez and Usman Yousuf bagged a wicket each.