Daily Times

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa won a closely fought Pakistan Cup 2019 match against Sindh by nine runs at the Pindi Cricket Stadium here on Tuesday to seal their place in Friday’s final. The result meant Balochistan also progressed to the championship match irrespective of how their Wednesday’s (today) match against Federal Areas pans out. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, winners of the inaugural event in 2016, finished their four matches with seven points (three wins and one no-result). Balochistan are sitting on five points from three matches. Sindh and Punjab, who will go head to head on Thursday, and Federal Areas have two points apiece.

The feature of the day was Khushdil Shah’s second century of the tournament, which lifted Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from a precarious position of 120 for four to 300 all out in 50 overs. In turn, Sindh finished at 291 for nine after Zohaib Khan and Wahab Riaz shared five wickets between them conceding 50 and 46 runs, respectively.

Khushdil, who had scored 154 not out against Punjab last week, was dismissed after scoring 100 that came off 65 balls and included eight fours and five sixes. The left-hander now leads the batting table with 314 runs from four matches. Mohammad Saad was the other notable run-scorer for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa when he scored 69 off 86 balls with six fours and a six. Adil Amin contributed 23, while Sohail Khan struck two sixes in a 20-ball 22. For Sindh, Hammad Azam and Mohammad Ilyas equally shared six wickets between them, conceding 60 and 66 runs.

In their run-chase, half-centuries by Umar Siddiq and Imran Rafiq, and a rapid 33-ball 42 with five fours and a six by Asif Ali, were not enough to take Sindh home as they ended up nine runs short of victory by finishing at 291 for nine. Opener Umar belted 10 fours in a 65-ball 60, while Imran returned unbeaten on 61 from 69 balls with eight fours. Other useful contributions came from Hammad Azam (24) and Sahibzada Farhan (22). Khushdil Shah was later declared player of the match.

Scores in brief:

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa beat Sindh by nine runs

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 300 all out in 50 overs (Khushdil Shah 100, Mohammad Saad 69; Hammad Azam 3-60, Mohammad Ilyas 3-66) VS Sindh 291-9 in 50 overs (Umar Siddiq 69, Imran Rafiq 61 , Asif Ali 42; Zohaib Khan 3-50, Wahab
Riaz 2-46).