Peshawar and Multan Opened Their Account on a Good Chasing Day

The opening match of day two during the National T20 Cup saw another interesting finish between Peshawar and Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA). While the second match turned out to be a good run oozing encounter between Multan and Karachi Whites.

FATA captain Fawad Ahmed opted to bat first and failed to capitalize the decision. Peshawar bowler did not allow FATA batsmen to settle for a decent partnership and restricted them to a low total of 124. Adil Amin with his chancy innings of 44 runs (2 fours and 1 six) were the highlight of FATA’s innings. Asif Afridi added a breezy 19 off 12 balls (2 sixes) and recorded a sixth-wicket partnership of 32 runs with Adil.

Peshawar used five bowlers including captain Zohaib Khan, Imran Khan, Waqas Maqsood, Sajid Khan and Imran Khan Jr. all these bowlers bowled pretty well and got a single wicket apiece.

On a slow track, FATA made the chase difficult for Peshawar with their sensible wicket taking bowling. Asif Afridi removed the danger man Fawad in the fifth over to create some pressure on the opposition. Peshawar went on the back foot when back to back wickets of Israrullah (23) and Raees Ahmed (5) fell in the 13th over. Peshawar then recovered from the loss through the heroics of the man of the match Nabi Gul who contributed match winning 34 (2 fours and 2 sixes) but unfortunately could not finish the game and fell prey to Zia ul Haq on the third last ball of the innings.

However, on the second last ball, Peshawar reached the target and won the match by 2 wickets. Zia ul Haq bagged three wickets while Usama Mir picked up 2. Asad Afridi, Asif, and Mohammad Irfan Jr got one wicket each.

In the second match, later that day, Karachi Whites faced defeat from Multan by 8 wickets despite showing a good batting display. Karachi winning the toss batted first and posted a decent total of 163 but it looked not enough in front of batting great like Sohaib Maqsood.

Whites lost an early wicket in the form of opener Awais Zia (12) for just 20 runs in the second over. Karachi had a good start as opener Khurram Manzoor went on scoring hefty 62 runs from 44 balls including 7 fours and 2 sixes. Another notable performer from Karachi was Rameez Raja Jr who smashed 54 runs from 45 balls (5 fours and 1 six). Khurram and Rameez scored 101 runs partnership for the second wicket which is the tournament highest. Check psl updates here

Karachi looked in a comfortable position to post 190 but the collapse from 14th over proved to be troublesome for them. This was the time when Multan came back into the match. Mohammad Irfan and Mohammad Imran grabbed 2 wickets while Amir Yamin and Bilawal Bhatti picked up one wicket each.

Multan struggled right from the onset of their innings as their openers went back to the dressing room on the score of 6. Man of the match Sohaib Maqsood was the star performer of the day as he went on scoring a match-winning 88* from 57 deliveries with the help of 3 fours and 7 sixes. Mohamad Irfan also supported well with his gutsy knock of 67 runs (6 fours and 2 sixes). Multan reached the target in the second last over with 10 balls to spare. Raza Hasan and Rahat Ali both took one wicket each.

The first match on the third day will be played between Lahore Blues and Rawalpindi while the second match is scheduled between Lahore Whites and Islamabad.