Rauf bags four as Northern down Southern Punjab by five runs

Right-arm pacer Haris Rauf bagged four wickets as Northern beat Southern Punjab by five runs in the ongoing National T20 Cup on Sunday.

Chasing a target of 146 runs, Southern Punjab suffered an early setback when Rauf removed opener Umar Siddiq for a duck in second over of the innings.

Rauf continued to maintain pressure on Southern Punjab by dismissing Shan Masood (4) and Hussain Talat (12).

An in-form Khushdil Shah was looking in ominous form as he hit Shadab Khan for two sixes. However, a suicidal run-attempt led to his downfall on 26.

Following Khushdil’s dismissal, wicketkeeper-batsman Zeeshan Ashraf tried to up the ante, but hit one shot too many as he was caught at long off boundary by Mohammad Nawaz for 25.

With SP needing 52 runs from 23 balls, all-rounder Aamer Yamin kept his team in the chase with a quick-fire unbeaten 33-run knock from 19 balls. But Yamin’s cameo proved to be not enough to take his team over the line.

Earlier, Southern Punjab restricted Northern to 145/7 after electing to field first.

Southern Punjab’s decision paid dividends as Northern lost their both openers, Zeeshan Malik (6) and Umar Amin (4), inside the power play.

Coming in at one-down, Sohail Akhtar top scored for Northern with a 35-run knock. However, pacer Mohammad Ilyas trapped him lbw leaving the batting side reeling at 63/4.

Hard-hitting batsman Asif Ali tried to accelerate the innings with a brisk 28-run inning from 18 balls, while wickets kept falling at the other end.

A brief 26-run cameo from skipper Imad Wasim helped Northern reach a respectable total.