Awais Zia stars as Balochistan thump Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by six wickets

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Opener Awais Zia smashed an unbeaten 92-run knock to propel Balochistan to an impressive six-wicket victory against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in their National T20 Cup encounter at the Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium in Rawalpindi on Saturday.

Chasing a 155-run target, Balochistan lost opener Abdul Wahid, who was bowled by fast-bowler Shaheen Shah Afridi, without troubling the scorers.

Afridi then broke through the defences of batsman Bismillah Khan who was bowled after scoring 18 off 14 deliveries.

Middle-order batsman Imran Butt (9) and captain Haris Sohail (1) fell cheaply as well while Awais continued his fine innings at the other end.

Akbarur Rehman provided solid support for Awais after scoring an unbeaten 24-run knock off 22 deliveries.

Awais was the undisputed star of the innings as he bludgeoned 92 runs off 49 balls with the help of 10 fours and four sixes during his unbeaten match-winning knock.

Afridi was the pick of the bowlers for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa after taking two wickets while giving away 38 runs in four overs.

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Earlier, Balochistan won the toss and elected to field first. A disciplined bowling effort restricted their opponents to 154/6 in 20 overs.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa lost opener Mohammad Rizwan and batsman Mohammad Hafeez early on five and four runs respectively.

Opener Fakhar Zaman scored 33 runs off 34 deliveries before getting caught by Akbarur Rehman off the bowling of leg-spinner Yasir Shah.

Veteran all-rounder Shoaib Malik stood tall at one end while batsmen Sahibzada Farhan and Iftikhar Ahmed fell cheaply for 12 and four off the bowling of fast-bowler Akif Javed.

Malik continued his fine knock before falling to veteran fast-bowler Umar Gul after scoring 74 runs off just 44 deliveries.

The veteran all-rounders superb knock pushed Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to 154 for the loss of six wickets in their allotted 20 overs.

Javed was the pick of the bowlers for Balochistan after picking up two wickets while giving away 20 runs in four overs.