KARACHI: In the 28th match of the ongoing Pakistan Cup, Central Punjab edged past Sindh by 77 runs, thanks to the brilliant all-round performance by Zafar Gohar to book their spot in the semi-final, while Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), and Balochistan have already qualified.
In the final-round match between CP and Sindh, the home side sealed a resounding 77-runs victory over the third-ranked Sindh at the back of Zafar’s heroics.
Batting first in a must-win game, CP get to a decent total of 261 in the 49th before losing all of their wickets. The right-handed opener Ahmed Shehzad and the all-rounder Zafar led the batting chart with respective fifties, while Umar Akmal also chipped in with a quick 37.
Zafar scored a gritty 51 off 62 balls with the help of four boundaries and two sixes, while Ahmed remained the top-scorer for the home side with 68 off 75 balls, laced with nine boundaries.
For Sindh, Muhammad Umar led the way with three wickets, while Abrar Ahmed followed back with two to his name. Sohail Khan, Mohammad Asghar, Danish Aziz, Saim Ayub, and Mohammad Taha, on the other hand, made one scalp each.
Set to chase 262 in 50 overs, Sindh’s skipper Sarfaraz Ahmed’s half-century went in vain as the side could only score 184 and bowled out in the 42nd over.
Sarfaraz remained the top-scorer for his side with a gritty 59 off 75 deliveries with the help of three boundaries and a six, while the middle-order batter followed back with 27.
The rest of their batters failed in the run chase and seven batters walked back after scoring in single digits.
For CP, Zafar, alongside Hussain Talat led the bowling chart with three wickets each, while Ali Asfand bagged two. The skipper Wahab Riaz made one scalp.
In the 29th match of the ongoing tournament, Southern Punjab (SP) thrashed bottom-ranked Northern by three wickets and 127 balls to spare, thanks to the belligerent hitting by Azam Khan in the run chase.
Set to chase 221, SP appeared to be in a rush to hunt down the total and beat CP’s run rate, however, despite reaching the total with 127 balls to spare, the team was unable to qualify for the knockout stage as CP thrashed Sindh in their match and secured the fourth position with 10 points. Whereas, remained in fifth with eight points.
Azam stole the show with his brilliant power hitting; scoring a quickfire 83 off 39 balls, laced with 11 boundaries and four sixes, while Sharoon Siraj and Muhammad Imran also chipped in with 48 and 40 respectively.
For Northern, Athar Mehmood and Mehran Mumtaz claimed two wickets each, while Salman Irshad and Shadab Majeed struck out a batter each.
Batting first, Northern could only manage to score 220/6 in the allotted 50 overs as some tight bowling from the SP did not allow their batters to score freely.
Northern’s middle-order batters Mubasir Khan and Mohammad Raza-ul-Mustafa scored half-centuries but remained a touch too slow as Mubasir faced 88 balls for his 59, while Raza faced 71 deliveries to score 56.
For SP, Hassan Khan, Ali Majid, Sharoon, Salman Ali Agha, Rahat Ali, and Zia-ul-Haq picked one wicket apiece.
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