Peshawar, Fata advance in National T20 Cup

KARACHI: Peshawar and Fata recorded much-needed wins to stay alive on the eighth day of the National T20 Cup 2018-19 at Multan Cricket Stadium on Monday.

Powered by 43 from Saad Ali and unbeaten 41 from Mohammad Waqas Junior former champions Peshawar overpowered Islamabad by three wickets, their second victory, in the eight-team event. Fata, meanwhile, outclassed Rawalpindi by six wickets to surge to the third spot with four points from four meetings.

In the Peshawar-Islamabad outing, Waqas batted bravely to secure a last-ball win for Peshawar who also stretched their points to four from four appearances.Chasing a tricky target of 136 Peshawar needed nine in the last over from Test seamer Junaid Khan and two off the last ball. The right-handed Waqas intelligently nudged it towards on-side and took a couple to bring in a sensational win.

“The management gave me confidence and that worked,” said Waqas.Waqas, who batted superbly in the end to bring down the required rate, smashed two sixes and one four in his 25-ball match-winning knock.

After losing both openers Sahibzada Farhan (8) and Fawad Khan (0) in quick succession, left-handed batsmen Saad Ali (43) and Israrullah (24) put on 49 for the third wicket stand to revive the innings. Paceman Ahmed Bashir gave vital breakthrough to Islamabad when he bowled Israr who hit two fours from 28 deliveries.

Bashir then also took the vital wicket of Saad at a stage when Peshawar needed 41 from four overs. However Waqas took the responsibility and made his side home in style. Karachi-born Saad smashed four fours from 37 deliveries. Ahmed Bashir was the pick of the bowlers with 3-30 in four overs. Test-pacer Sohail Khan got 2-33 in four overs which also included the prized scalp of Sahibzada Farhan.

After being sent into bat, Islamabad’s innings revolved around in-form Abid Ali who chipped in with a 38-ball 47, having hit two sixes and three fours.Abid added 53 runs for the fourth wicket with Test cricketer Iftikhar Ahmed who hit 24-ball 21 with two fours.

Spinner Sajid Khan removed both Abid and Iftikhar off two successive deliveries in the 14th over to bring Islamabad under pressure. However Adeel Malik hit a rapid 21-ball 30 in the death overs to take Islamabad to a fighting total.

Adeel smashed three fours and a six from 21-ball balls. Pakistan’s T20 left-arm pacer Waqas Maqsood (2-33) and Sajid Khan (2-25) bowled well. Waqas was adjudged Man-of-the-Match for his glorious knock.

Islamabad’s captain Imad Wasim said they were a few runs short. “It would have been good if we could have scored 145 to 150. The pitch was also not that difficult. Although the ball was keeping a bit low but there was no such break,” Imad said. He said that his batsmen would need to play positive cricket.

Peshawar’s skipper Imran Khan Senior was happy that he got his three key players in the side.“Our bowling was good but we were lacking in batting. But it is good that we got Waqas, Saad Ali and Sahibzada Farhan in the side,” Imran said.

Meanwhile Fata rode on the heroics of Khushdil Shah and Adil Amin to register their second victory when they overwhelmed Rawalpindi by six wickets.Khushdil Shah smacked six sixes and two fours in his 40-ball explosive 65 to enable the tribesmen to achieve the 140-run target with six balls to spare. Hammad Azam got 2-22 in three overs. After deciding to bat first Umar Amin’s Rawalpindi failed to exhibit desired batting display and were restricted to 139-9.

Discarded Test opener Sami Aslam hit 36-ball 37 with four fours and Zahid Mansoor smashed a quick-fire 18-ball 30 with two sixes and one four.

In the end a nine-ball 20 not out cameo from Khalid Usman took Rawalpindi to a good total. Khalid scored 18 runs in the final over from Zia-ul-Haq, hitting the left-armer for four successive fours. Adil Amin bowled superbly, picking 3-14 in four overs.

Skipper Asif Afridi (2-29) and Mohammad Irfan Junior (2-16) ably backed Adil. Khushdil was declared Man-of-the-match.Today’s fixtures: Lahore Whites v Multan (11am), Karachi Whites v Lahore Blues (3pm).