Central Punjab was hoping for a spot in the T20 National Cup semi-finals for the first XI teams by recording a thrilling three-way win against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the 26th game of the tournament, which was played Tuesday night at Rawalpindi’s Pindi Cricket Stadium.
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Fast left-arm bowler Waqas Maqsood took three wickets to restrict Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in her chase, even though Captain Mohammad Rizwan did not fail at 99. Rizwan almost won a miraculous victory putting the question down to six runs from the final ball. Central Punjab’s Ehsan Adil held his nerve and took just two runs from the last ball after completing 15 runs from the first five balls of the over, starting with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, who took 21 runs.
Central Punjab have now played all ten games, of which they have won four, lost six and finished with eight points. Balochistan also has eight points, but two games left. A victory in one of the two games confirms the place in the semifinals. Northern, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh have already reached the last four of the six-team competition.
On Wednesday evening, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s 175-run chase got off to a disastrous start when Waqas sent openers Mohammad Haris (1) and Fakhar Zaman (14) back with the first 13 balls of the chase.
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Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s worries increased when Zohaib Khan (1) fell on Ehsan, who had returned to Central Punjab’s Eleven in place of Usman Qadir.
Shoaib Malik fell for 10 runs while Waqas Iftikhar Ahmed was sacked for 21 of 13 balls (two fours and one six) when Khyber Pakhtunkhwa stuttered for five in 14.5 overs to 98.
Musadiq Ahmed (17) added 57 runs with Rizwan for the sixth wicket; He was fired by Ehsan in the final of the game to try to push the line.
Rizwan single-handedly kept his team on the hunt in his jaw-dropping innings, which resulted from 68 balls and included seven fours and six towering sixes, but narrowly failed to lead his side to an unlikely victory. For Central Punjab, Waqas took three for 43, while Ehsan took two wickets for 32 runs.
Muhammad Akhlaq (Man Of The Match ) said:
“I would like to thank the Almighty first. My goal was to get the team up to the 170 run mark. “I’m glad I helped the team reach this mark as the instructions from the captain and management were to cross the 170-run mark. We managed to meet our goal with a good result on deaths to reach.”
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa asked Central Punjab to strike first after winning the throw. Central Punjab lost Kamran Akmal’s large wicket in the second run for a duck, and Imran Khan had him caught by wicketkeeper Haris.
Captain Babar Azam was accompanied by Abdullah Shafiq. The two laid the foundation for the Central Punjab total with an 80-strong partnership with 63 balls. Imran made another big break when he caught Babar by Mohammad Rizwan for 39 balls out of 33 (three fours, one six).
Abdullah published his second half century of the tournament. In addition to the 1950s, the right-handed player had struck a century in his T20 debut, Central Punjab’s opening game against Southern Punjab. Abdullah hit five fours and two sixs in his 63 innings today that took 48 balls.
Central Punjab was then well served by the man of the game, Muhammad Akhlaq, who after his good run in the National repaid his management’s confidence in his skills (earned a stint on the first XI squad for the Rawalpindi leg) for the T20 Cup second XI team at Gaddafi Stadium Lahore with a stunning, unbeaten 50 of 29 balls. Akhlaq hit four fours and three sixes, all three sixes coming from a Shaheen Shah Afridi (17th over the innings).
Central Punjab finished their innings at 174 for four; Imran Khan and Usman Shinwari each took two wickets for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.