Punjab Badshahs record second successive win

KARACHI: Nasir Jamshed played a solid knock to guide Punjab Badshahs to their second successive victory as they defeated Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Fighters by five wickets in their match of the Pentangular Cup here at National Stadium on Wednesday.
Nasir hit 83 off 88 balls to enable Punjab Badshahs to achieve the 280-run target in 48.5 overs after losing five wickets.
Left-handed Nasir struck nine fours and two sixes in his fine fifty. He added 74 off 84 balls for the opening stand with Ali Waqas (20), who was run out after hitting one four from 35 balls.
Nasir then added 59 for the second wicket with Shahid Yousuf (63) before he himself was trapped lbw by left-arm spinner Zafar Gohar. This left Punjab Badshahs at 133-2 in 26.3 overs.
In the next over, leg-spinner Yasir Shah bowled stand-in skipper Umar Akmal (2) to put some pressure on Badshahs.
Shahid and Umar Siddiq (62) then added 104 for the fourth wicket to bring their team closer to the target, but both fell in two successive overs, leaving Badshahs at 244-5 in 44.5 overs.
Shahid, who was trapped lbw off Yasir, hit five fours from 86 balls. Umar got run out after he had hammered seven fours and a six in his 53-ball feat.
Imad Wasim (20*) and Saad Nasim (18*) scored 36 for the sixth wicket unbroken stand to take their team to the target with seven balls to spare.
Imad hit three fours from 13 balls, while Saad cracked one six from 14 balls.
Yasir, who got a place in Pakistan’s World Cup squad, picked 2-53 from ten overs. Left-arm spinner Zafar Gohar took 1-36 in eight overs.
After opting to bat first on the flat track, KP Fighters had a murky start as international pacer Bilawal Bhatti got rid of left-handed opener Naeemuddin (7) and Iftikhar Ahmed (4) in quick succession. Both were caught by Umar Akmal behind the stumps.
Naeem, who had topped Quaid-e-Azam Trophy Gold with 1034 runs, struck one four from 20 balls. Iftikhar hit one four from nine deliveries.
However, Israrullah (46) and stumper Mohammad Rizwan (53) added 39 off 61 deliveries for the third wicket before Israr was run out by Bilawal. The left-hander had hammered five fours from 50 balls.
Rizwan then put on 67 off 72 deliveries for the fourth wicket with Adnan Raees (73) to take Fighters to 153-4 in 30.5 overs.
Rizwan, who failed to get a World Cup ticket, also got run out by Umar Siddiq after he had struck five fours in his 65-ball fifty. Adnan and Zohaib Khan (51) batted with maturity and added 62 off 78 balls for the fifth wicket to stretch their team’s total to 215-5 in 43.1 overs.
Umar Siddiq took a splendid catch to send Adnan back off left-arm spinner Imad Wasim. Adnan cracked five fours in his 84-ball innings. Left-arm spinner Raza Hasan had Zohaib caught comfortably at extra cover by Nasir Jamshed. He smacked five fours in his 47-ball knock.
Zafar Gohar made a precious 19-ball 20 with one six and one four to help Fighters pile up 279-7 in the allotted 50 overs.
Bilawal Bhatti got 2-53 from nine overs. Wahab Riaz (1-50 from 10), Raza Hasan (1-37 in 10) and Imad Wasim (1-61 in 10) were the other wicket-takers.
Nasir Jamshed was declared man-of-the-match. This was the first loss for Fighters who ended their league at the top of the table with six points.