Khyber Pukhtunkhwa has topped the points table after they registered their fourth win in the fifth fixture of the National T20 as they outshined Balochistan by 55 runs in the thrilling 15th match of the tournament played at the Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi on Saturday evening.
Khyber Pukhtunkhwa set a 203 target, the highest total of the tournament, and limped Baluchistan to 147 in their chase.
The KP’s skipper Rizwan had a cautious start as the early Israrullah wicket put the team in pressure. Rizwan managed to add 37 on board to ease the pressure. Farhan kept the score going to a decent point until falling to Kashif Bhatti on 43.
The middle order of KP glittered once again with Asif Afridi’s giving the much-needed pace to the scorecard by hitting two sixes and a four managing 16 off just 4 and Iftikhar Ahmed keeping the momentum going with a blazing 36 off 18 balls (four fours, two sixes). After Iftikhar Musadiq Ahmed and Adil Amin added a sixth-wicket partnership of 42 to propel KP past the 200-run mark. Musadiq remained unbeaten on 17 while Adil scored 26 off 13.
At the other end, Sohail Akhtar was the only one to give a decent fight to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa bowlers as the right-hander hit five sixes and two fours to manage 61 off 43.
The Openers Abdullah Shafique— who played an incredible inning in the last match against Southern Punjab— struggled against the KP’s pacer Shaheen scoring 24. Haris Sohail and Umaid Asif with 17 runs each were the only other batters to reach double figures.
Balochistan had crashed to 83 for seven in their chase before Sohail brought some late-order fight to narrow the defeat margin for his side.
All-rounder Asif Afridi was announced as the player of the match due to his contribution of three wickets for only eight runs from his wily left-arm-spin. Fast bowler Arshad Iqbal took three wickets for 16 runs while Shaheen Shah Afridi took two for 30.
