Pakistan Cup: KP defeat Sindh by 7 runs to reach final

 

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) won the toss and chose to bat first against Sindh. They scored 319/5 in the stipulated 50 overs.

The main attraction was captain Ahmed Shahzad who scored 143 with included 15 fours and 2 sixes.  Along with Fakhar Zaman, both gave a solid opening partnership of 176 to their team. Zaman scored 68 with included 8 fours as well.

Mohammad Amir, Ruman Raees and Bilal Asif took 2 wickets each.

This is the first defeat for Sindh captain by Safaraz Ahmed. Khalid Latif scored an unbeaten 168 which included 11 fours and 9 sixes. Fawad Alam scored 74.

However, this was not enough to secure the win for their team as two wickets fell in the last over of the match.

Earlier, KP  had made changes to their playing squad as Israrullah and Adil Amin replaced Musadiq Ahmed and Rameez Aziz. Meanwhile, Sindh made one change to the side as Anwar Ali was replaced by Rumman Raees.

Sindh, with four points, had remained unbeaten in the tournament so far as they have won both of their matches thanks to back to back centuries by Khurram Manzoor. They started off with beating Balochistan by 42 under the Duckworth-Lewis Method and later trounced Islamabad by 118 runs.

Meanwhile, KP also have four points in the table after winning two out their three matches in the Pakistan Cup. They were beaten by Islamabad by two wickets under the D/L method. They defeated Punjab by two runs and beat Balochistan by 74 runs.

Ahmed Shehzad will lead KP side after Younis Khan quit Pakistan Cup halfway through the tournament.

Sindh (team): Khurram Manzoor, Sami Aslam, Khalid Latif, Sohaib Maqsood, Fawad Alam, Sarfraz Ahmed (captain), Rumman Raees, Sohail Khan, Mohammad Amir, Bilal Asif and Hasan Khan.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (team): Ahmed Shehzad (captain), Fakhar Zaman, Israrullah, Zohaib Khan, Fahim Ashraf, Bismillah Khan, Adil Amin, Yasir Shah, Sameen Gul, Zia-ul-Haq and Mohammad Asghar.