Shaheens begin white-ball leg on winning note

Mubasir Khan and Jahandad Khan put together bright performances to help Pakistan Shaheens begin the white-ball leg of the Darwin tour on a winning note as Shaheens beat hosts Northern Territory Strike by four wickets in the 50-over match on Sunday at the Gardens Oval in Darwin.

Mubasir and Jahandad shared seven wickets among them before putting on a vital 18-run seventh wicket partnership to take Shaheens over the line. Shaheens had stuttered in their pursuit of the 143-run target after being reduced to 94-5 but Mubasir (32 not out, 72b, 3x4s), who walked into bat at 56-3, stood steadfast on one end to take his team home.

After Haseebullah departed for two off five balls, Sahibzada Farhan (30, 32b, 4x4s) and Usman Khan put on a 52-run partnership for the second wicket. Matt Hammond dismissed Usman, for 22-ball 20 with the help of three fours, and skipper Mohammad Haris, for a three-ball duck, in 10th over to put Shaheens under pressure.

Muhammad Irfan Khan (21, 28b, 2x4s), batting at six, and Arafat Minhas (18, 27b, 2x4s), batting at seven, contributed vital runs before departing in the nervy chase. It was in 36th over when Shaheens got over the line with Jahandad chipping in with 10 unbeaten runs with the help of one boundary. Apart from Hammond, who took two wickets, Caelan Maladay, Lachlan Bangs, Charlie Smith and Connor Carroll picked up one wicket each.

Earlier, after winning the coin toss and opting to bat first, NT Strike lost their opening batters, Carroll and Jacob Dickman inside three overs as Mohammad Imran Jnr and Jahandad Khan struck with the new ball. Jahandad soon dismissed Harshtik Bimbral for seven off 26 balls leaving NT Strike 19-3 after eight overs.

Spinners, Mubasir Khan and Faisal Akram, took little time in opening their accounts in the wicket column after Mubasir dismissed Bangs (10, 21b, 1x4) in 16th over and Faisal got rid of Cadell Mcmahon (9, 25b, 2x4s) to leave NT Strike reeling at 69-5 in 23.4 overs.

Jagadeswara Koduru (59, 80b, 4x4s, 2x6s), the top-scorer for his side, and Matt Hammond (22, 51b) came together to stitch a 40-run sixth-wicket partnership before Mubasir struck to remove the latter in 36th over. Tom Menzies and Jagadeswara too returned to dug out within the next 17 balls with the scorecard reading 117-8.

Maladay (15, 28b) and Nicholas Fleming (11, 20b, 1x4) took their team to 142-run total before being bundled out in 46.1 overs. For Shaheens, Jahandad returned figures of 4-26 in 8.1 overs while Mubasir picked up three wickets for 18 runs in his nine overs. Imran Jnr, who only gave away 16 runs in his 10 overs, and Faisal dismissed one batter each.

Shaheens will take on Bangladesh ‘A’ in their next 50-over match on Tuesday.