Daily Times

RAWALPINDI: Central Punjab kept their hopes of a semi-final berth in the National T20 Cup for First XI teams alive by registering a thrilling three-run win over Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the 26th match of the tournament played at the Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi on Tuesday night. Left-arm fast bowler Waqas Maqsood took three wickets to help restrict Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in their chase despite captain Mohammad Rizwan’s fighting knock of 99 not out. Rizwan almost pulled off a miraculous win when he brought the ask to six runs off the final ball, Central Punjab’s Ehsan Adil held his nerve and conceded only two runs off the last ball after going for 15 runs off the first five balls of the over which started with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa needing 21 runs. Central Punjab have now played all of their ten matches of which they won four and lost six and have finished with eight points. Balochistan also have eight points but have two games left, a win in either of the two games will confirm their semi-final berth. Northern, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh are already through to the last-four of the six-team competition.

Scores in brief:

Central Punjab 174-4, 20 overs (Abdullah Shafiq 63, Muhammad Akhlaq 50 not out, Babar Azam 39; Usman Shinwari 2-20, Imran Khan Snr 2-24) VS Khyber Pakhtunkhwa 171-6, 20 overs (Mohammad Rizwan 99 not out, Iftikhar Ahmed 21; Waqas Maqsood 3-43, Ehsan
Adil 2-32).

Result: Central Punjab won by three runs

Man-of-the-match: Mohammad Akhlaq (Central Punjab).