National T-20 Cup: Northern To Play Khyber Pakhtunkhwa; Balochistan To Face Southern Punjab In Semi-finals

Northern, the table toppers will play Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while Balochistan who finished second will play Southern Punjab in the semifinals of National T-20 cup at Faisalabad's Iqbal Stadium on October 23 (tomorrow).

FAISALABAD, (APP - UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 22nd Oct, 2019 ) :Northern, the table toppers will play Khyber Pakhtunkhwa while Balochistan who finished second will play Southern Punjab in the semifinals of National T-20 cup at Faisalabad's Iqbal Stadium on October 23 (tomorrow).

In the last match of league stage, Northern defeated Balochistan by 7 wickets to top the table with 8 points while Balochistan grabbed 2nd position with 6 points and Southern Punjab got 3rd position with 5 points. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh grabbed 4 points each but Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was through to the semi-final due to better net run-rate.

In the last league match, put into bat, Balochistan scored 155 runs for the loss of eight wickets in their allotted 20 overs. Hussain Talat held the innings together and scored unbeaten 77 runs on 51 balls with 9 fours and 2 sixes. The wickets continued to fell on the other end and 6 batsmen could not enter into double figures. Awais Zia scored 31 runs, Imam-ul-Haq 15, and Umar Gul 13 runs. Shadab Khan was the pick of bowlers grabbing 4 wickets for 26 runs while Mohammad Amir and Sohail Tanvir took two 2 wickets each.

Chasing relatively achievable target, Northern lost two wickets for just 18 runs as Sohail Akhtar was dismissed on 8 while Umar Amin failed to open the account. Opener Ali Imran and Rohail Nazir played excellent innings and added 105 runs for the third wicket partnership taking the match away from Balochistan. Ali Imran made 65 runs on 37 balls hitting 8 fours and 2 sixes while Rohail Nazir scored unbeaten 56 runs on 46 balls with 4 fours and 3 sixes. Asif Ali remained unbeaten on 17 runs and helped Northern achieve the target in 17 overs for the loss of 3 wickets.

Umar Akmal and Akif Javed picked up one wicket each for Balochistan.

Ali Imran was declared man-of-the-match.

Scores in brief: Balochistan 155/8, 20 overs (Hussain Talat 77, Awais Zia 31; Shadab Khan 4-26, Mohammad Amir 2-37).

Northern 156/3, 17.0 overs(Ali Imran 65, Rohail Nazir 56; Umar Gul 1-17, Akif Javed 1-33).

Earlier, in the first match Khyber Pakhtunkhwa beat Central Punjab by 7 wickets to qualify for the semifinal due to better net run-rate as Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have 4 points each.

Put in to bat, Central Punjab's Ahmed Shahzad (10) and Kamran Akmal (18) fell early. But Captain Babar Azam and Umar Akmal consolidated the innings and took the score to 167 before Babar Azam was judged run out. He scored 83 runs on 57 balls hitting 5 fours and 4 sixes. Umar Akmal made unbeaten half century (53) on 36 balls with 2 fours and 4 sixes while Rizwan Hussain remained not out on 9.

Irfanullah Shah and Mohammad Mohsin took one wicket each for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Set 178 to win, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa chased down the target in 19.4 overs due to excellent batting by opener Fakhr Zaman and Khushdil Shah. Fakhar Zaman scored unbeaten 82 runs on 54 balls hitting 7 fours and 2 sixes while Khushdil Shah smashed unbeaten 46 runs on 26 balls with 3 fours and 3 sixes and steer their side to victory. Among other batsmen Sahibzada Farhan scored 17, Mohammad Rizwan 2, and Iftikhar Ahmed 19 runs. For Central Punjab, Zafar Gohar, Naseem Shah and Usman Qadir took one wicket each.

Kushdil Shah bagged man-of-the-match.

Scores in brief: Central Punjab 177/3, 20 overs (Babar Azam 83, Umar Akmal 53; Irfanullah Shah 1-22, Mohammad Mohsin 1-33)Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 182/3, 19.4 overs (Fakhar Zaman 82, Kushdil Shah 46; Naseem Shah 1-30, Zafar Gohar 1-34).