RAWALPINDI: Imran Khan Snr led the bowling attack with four wickets against Central Punjab (CP) to power the defending champions Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK) to their maiden victory in the recently-commenced National T20 Cup 2022.

Set to chase 166 in 20 overs, CP fell 16 runs short in the end, and finished at 147/9 in 19.1 overs as their captain Faheem Ashraf remained unavailable to bat due to an injury.

The side were off to a dismal start to their run chase as they lost two wickets for a mere 33 in five overs. Tayyab Tahir and Qasim Akram then anchored the innings with an important 57-run partnership for the third wicket.

The pair appeared solid and was looking to take the game into CP’s favour before Arshad Iqbal castled Qasim in the 12th over. The right-handed batter scored a run-a-ball 15.

Following the breakthrough, CP ran into a frustrating lower-order collapse and as a result, slipped to 147/8 in 19 overs with their top-scorer Tayyab being the latest casualty. He scored a brilliant 72 off 45 deliveries, laced with five boundaries and three sixes.

CP captain Faheem, who sustained an injury while bowling in the first inning could not bat in the run chase forcing the side to finish at 147/9 with five balls to spare.

Imran Snr was the pick of the bowlers for KPK as he returned with match-winning bowling figures of 4-27, while Asif Afridi and Mohammad Imran bagged two wickets each. Arshad, on the other hand, made a timely scalp.

Batting first, KPK managed to register a decent total of 165/6 in the allotted 20 overs, thanks to the combined batting effort from the defending champions.

Kamran Ghulam remained the top scorer for the side with 39 off 32 deliveries, while Mohammad Sarwar Afridi followed back with a quickfire 30 off 21 balls.

Ali Asfand led the bowling attack for CP with two wickets, while Wahab Riaz, Usama Mir, and Irfan Khan Niazi struck out a batter each.

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