National T20 Cup: Abbottabad wins against Lahore Whites as Peshawar beat Faisalabad by five-wickets

Victory sealed by Usman’s five-wicket haul and half-centuries by Younus and Hameed.

KARACHI:

Khalid Usman’s aggressive bowling and half-centuries by Younus Khan and Yasir Hameed guided Abbottabad to an impressive 83-run win over Lahore Whites on the second day of the Haier National T20 Cup at the Rawalpindi Stadium on Wednesday.

Asked to bat first, Abbottabad posted a strong total of 198-3 in their allotted 20 overs as captain Hameed smashed nine fours and two sixes in his 43-ball 67, with Younus scoring 61 off 39 balls, hitting eight fours and a six in the process.

In reply, Lahore were dismissed for 115 as left-armer Usman sent five batsmen packing, giving away 26 runs in his four overs, while Junaid Khan and Yasir Shah picked up two wickets each for 19 and 22 runs respectively.

Muhammad Hafeez was the top-scorer for Lahore with 31 runs.

Peshawar beat Faisalabad by five-wickets

In the other match, an all-round performance by Iftikhar Ahmed led defending champions Peshawar to a five-wicket victory over Faisalabad.

Opting to bat first, Faisalabad were restricted to 133-9 as Imran Khan took four wickets, giving away 20 runs, with Ahmed and Imran Khan Sr bagging two wickets each for 31 and 34 runs respectively.

In reply, Peshawar successfully chased the target, losing five wickets with seven balls to spare as Ahmed scored an unbeaten 51 off 34 balls.

“We had planned not to give the bowler any time to think and attack relentlessly,” said man-of-the-match Ahmed.

Meanwhile, winning captain Zohaib Khan said that the win was a result of the team’s collective effort. “The batsmen kept a cool head while the opposition was unable to take many singles due to our good fielding,” said Zohaib. “Imran [Jr] is perfect in death overs and that is where he was used.”

Asif guides Sialkot to narrow win

At the Diamond Ground in Islamabad, Bilal Asif performed with both the bat and the ball to steer Sialkot to a narrow four-run victory over Hyderabad.

After losing two early wickets, Sialkot managed to score 163-7 with the help of a half-century by Asif, who hit 53 runs off 38 deliveries. He was assisted by captain Shoaib Malik’s 52 off 28.

Chasing 164, Hyderabad kept losing wickets at regular intervals as Asif dismissed three batsmen while conceding only 11 runs. Amad Butt also contributed with figures of 3-50.

In the other match at the same venue, an unbeaten 56-run knock by Faisal Mubashir and a three-wicket haul by Saadat Munir saw Bahawalpur claim a 42-run victory over Karachi Whites.

Bahawalpur posted a strong total of 174-4 as man-of-the-match Mubashir took 47 balls to score his 56-run knock, along with Moinuddin making 58 off 33 balls.

Chasing 175, Karachi were bowled out for 132 in 19.4 four overs as Munir bagged three scalps for 28 runs.

Earlier in Tuesday’s last match, Rawalpindi defeated Bahawalpur by seven wickets, courtesy of Nasir Jamshed’s 62 off 36, while Muhammad Amir dismissed Bahawalpur’s three batsmen.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 10^th,  2015.

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