Punjab and Northern are yet to win a game and are on the bottom of the table with zero points
05 March, 2022
PHOTO COURTESY: PCB
Abdul Bangalzai's maiden century ended in a losing cause as Shajeel Khan and Omair Yousuf helped Sindh to victory against Balochistan in the ongoing Pakistan Cup at Iqbal Cricket Stadium Faisalabad.
Batting first Balochistan were restricted to 209 by the Sindh bowlers. Shahnawaz Dahani, Abrar Ahmed, and Danish Aziz bowled economically and took two wickets each, Abdullah Bangalzai scored an unbeaten 136, his first in List A.
In return, Balochistan's 210-run target, Sindh lost their first wicket with only nine runs on the board, left-handed Shajeel and right-hander Omar added 86 runs for the second wicket, scoring 53 and 52 runs, respectively, to build a foundation for their team to chase the target in 41.3 overs.
Balochistan skipper Yasir Shah took two wickets and gave away 40 runs in a 10 overs quota.
Southern Punjab vs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) beat Southern Punjab in a one-sided match at the Iqbal Cricket Stadium Faisalabad.
Winning the toss, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa decided to bowl first and bowled out Southern Punjab to 184 after 41.4 overs, which KP chased in just 35.5 overs.
Southern Punjab batters failed to impress as KP's bowlers managed to get wickets at regular intervals, restricting them to a modest score of 184.
Sharoon Siraj was the only batsman to show some resistance for Southern Punjab, scoring 53 runs in 51 balls but was dismissed by KP skipper Khalid Usman.
Khalid Usman, Kamran Ghulam, and Arshad Iqbal were the main cause of destruction taking seven wickets between them.
Meanwhile, KP's opening batsman Sahibzada Farhan and Adil Amin’s half-centuries helped their team to victory, they scored 50 and 57 runs, respectively.
Wicket-keeper batter Mohammad Haris, who grasped a lot of attention during the PSL 2022, scored a quick 38 in 25 balls.
Pacer Rahat Ali picked up two wickets for Southern Punjab, while skipper Agha Salman and Hassan Khan took one wicket each.
Central Punjab vs Northern
Central Punjab defeated Northern after Muhammad Akhlaq and Wahab Riaz shine in a rain-affected game.
Winning the toss, Northern elected to bowl first against Central Punjab.
The match was reduced to 25 overs, where openers Rizwan Hussain and Ahmed Shehzad put up 64 runs for the opening wicket, scoring 31 and 34, respectively.
Wicket-keeper batter Muhammad Akhlaq stole the show with a 56-ball 70 to help his team reach 193 in 25 overs.
Pacer Musa Khan picked up two wickets, whereas Imad Wasim, Salman Irshad, and Mehran Mumtaz picked up one wicket each for Northern.
After an impressive show with the bat, Central Punjab was on top of their game with the bowl too.
Umar Amin was the only Northern batter who managed to score above 30 for Northern.
Veteran fast bowler Wahab Riaz got the better of the Northern batting line and picked up four wickets. Qasim Akram also took two wickets to deny northern from the chase.
All teams have played two matches each, KP and Sindh are unbeaten with four points each topping the points table, followed by Central Punjab and Baluchistan with two points each. Whereas, Southern
cBalochistan will compete against KP, Northern will be up against Sindh, and Central Punjab will face Southern Punjab in tomorrow’s fixtures.
