Aziz stars as Sindh down KP in last-ball thriller

Middle-order batsman Danish Aziz’s unbeaten 72-run knock helped Sindh down Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by two wickets in a last ball thriller on Tuesday.

Chasing a target of 139 runs, Sindh suffered early setback as they lost three wickets with only 14 runs on the board.

Left-arm pacer Usman Shinwari struck thrice in his second over leaving Sindh reeling at 34/6.

Aziz and all-rounder Anwar Ali then combined for a 77-run partnership and resurrected Sindh’s chase. However, a flying catch by KP captain Mohammad Rizwan of Anwar Ali (33) brought an end to the brilliant stand.

Following Ali’s departure, Aziz brought up his second fifty of the tournament and kept fighting for Sindh.

With 19 needed in last over, Aziz brought the chase down to the last ball needing five runs, and hit a six on the final ball to win the game for his team.

Earlier, Sindh restricted Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to 138/9 after electing to field first.

Sindh made early inroads by dismissing KP’s inform batsmen Fakhar Zaman (0) and Mohammad Rizwan (12) inside the powerplay.

KP kept losing wickets at regular intervals as senior batsmen Iftikhar Ahmed (14) and Shoaib Malik (7) failed to rise to the occasion.

Hard-hitting batsmen Musadiq Ahmed played another brief cameo of 25 runs from 14 balls before he was clean bowled by pacer Mohammad Hasnain.

A late 36-run blitz from Shinwari helped Khyber Pakhtunkhwa reach a respectable total.