Tayyab, Khushdil shine as Southern crush Central

LAHORE: Tayyab Tahir and Khushdil Shah extended the honeymoon period of Southern Punjab with a convincing six-wicket win over Central Punjab in their match of the National T20 Cup here at the Gaddafi Stadium on Thursday evening.

SP had snatched a magnificent victory against Northern Pakistan the other day, which was their first of the tournament.

Having contained CP to as low as 154 for nine, SP overhauled the target by reaching 157 for four in 19 overs.

Two back-to-back wickets of opener Zeshan Ashraf and Agha Salman in the second and third overs, respectively, brought joy in CP camp, but Tayyab shattered their hopes with a brilliant half century. He hit eight fours and two sixes in his 52-ball 68. Later an addition of 24 runs from Mohammad Imran’s bat doubled their hopes. But the real icing on the cake came from the unbeaten half century of Khushdil (51 off 32 balls), who added 92 for the fourth wicket with Tayyab. Khushdil hit eight fours.

Waqas Maqsood with two wickets was the prominent bowler from CP. Faheem Ashraf and Zafar Gohat got one wicket each.

Earlier, left-arm pacer Zia-ul-Haq bagged four wickets to help Southern Punjab (SP) contain Central Punjab (CP).

Kamran Akmal was trapped leg before wicket in the very first over for a duck by Aamer Yamin. He was followed by Mohammad Akhlaq (7), bowled by Naseem Shah.

Hussain Talat, however, kept SP bowlers at bay with fluency in his stroke-play. Talat scored 68 runs off 47 balls, hitting six boundaries and three sixes. Shoaib Malik made 26 runs, striking a boundary and a six.

Apart from Zia, who conceded 40 runs for his four wickets, Aamer Yamin and Imran Randhawa bagged two wickets each.