Sindh only managed 150 after being sent in, despite an impressive half-century from Khurram Manzoor
Khyber Pahktunkhwa 156 for 4 (Zaman 49, Farhan 45) beat Sindh 150 for 7 (Manzoor 54, Shakeel 32, Asif Afridi 2-20, Imran 2-24) by six wickets
Fakhar Zaman (49 off 32) and Sahibzada Farhan (45 off 30) helped Khyber Pakhtunkhwa trounce Sindh in a chase of 151, as their team completed the job with six wickets in hand and with 2.2 overs to spare.
Opting to field first, KP got off to an inauspicious start, as Shaheen Shah Afridi conceded 13 off his first over. Sindh continued their strong start, reaching 32 for no loss after four overs, before Arshad Iqbal made a vital breakthrough after coming on as first change, dismissing the dangerous Sharjeel Khan for 25. The bowlers then began pulling the scoring rate down, with Asif Afridi striking twice in the eighth over to further hamper Sindh’s progress, before Khurram Manzoor and Saud Shakeel (32 off 26) made a bit of a recovery with a 56-run fourth wicket stand.
Imran Khan returned for his second spell and dismissed Shakeel and Danish Aziz off successive balls in the 16th over, before Manzoor changed gears abruptly, rushing from 29 off 28 to 49 off 34 courtesy five fours in the 17th over off the bowling of Shaheen.
Manzoor fell in the next over for 54 off 37, lbw to Mohammad Wasim, but his blitz had ensured Sindh would get to a decent total.
KP’s chase got off to a flying start, with Zaman hammering Mohammad Hasnain for 28 runs in the second over. Though Mohammad Rizwan fell early, KP were in no trouble as Zaman added 37 for the second wicket with Farhan before falling one short of his half-century, off Zahid Mahmood. Farhan and Adil Amin (26 off 19) then added 58 for the third wicket before falling off successive balls, but by then KP were nearly there. Musadiq Ahmed and Iftikhar Ahmed remained unbeaten to steer them home without any further loss of wickets.
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