Northern maintain perfect start with win over Sindh in National T20 Cup

Northern maintained their perfect start in the ongoing National T20 Cup, by winning their fourth match in a row, by defeating Sindh by 13 runs in Multan.

Chasing the 205-run target, Sindh lost opener Sharjeel Khan, who was player of the match for them in the previous game, early after pacer Haris Rauf had him caught behind for a golden duck.

Despite Sharjeel’s early exit, Sindh remained on track through Azam Khan as the right-hander played a blistering knock of 55 runs off just 28 balls. His innings included four fours and five sixes.

Azam was dismissed by Northern’s captain Shadab Khan, just when the former was threatening to take the game away from the table-toppers.

Despite Khurram Manzoor hitting a half-century (64 off 52) and all-rounder Anwar Ali playing a quick-fire knock of 37 runs from 17 balls, Sindh fell short of the target.

For the winning side, Haris, Shadab and Mohammad Nawaz bagged two wickets each.  

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After being put in to bat by Sindh, Northern got off to a blazing start with openers Ali Imran and Zeeshan Malik taking the Sindh bowlers to the cleaners. The duo posted 51 runs inside five overs before Imran departed after scoring 27 runs off 16 balls.

Zeeshan then combined with Haider Ali to put on 88 runs for the second wicket. Haider looked in control but missed out on a big score as he was dismissed after scoring 35 runs off 22 balls. Meanwhile, Zeeshan went back to the hut after playing a dominant innings of 84 runs off 52 balls. His knock included nine fours and a six.

Sindh bowlers bowled well towards the end of the innings to restrict Northern to 204/5, who at one stage looked set to post a total of around 220.

For Sindh, pacers Mohammad Hasnain and Sohail Khan claimed two wickets each.