Central Punjab win Second XI T20 Cup

LAHORE: Central Punjab bagged the Second XI National T20 Cup title with a seven-wicket win over Northern in the last match of the single-league event at the Gaddafi Stadium on Thursday.

The Nauman Anwar-led side topped the six-team points table with four wins from their five matches, while win-less Northern finished on the last spot.

An unbeaten 57-ball 66 by Junaid Ali set up the comfortable victory as Central Punjab overhauled the 134-run target with 11 balls to spare. The wicketkeeper-batsman took the lead role in the innings after Nauman, who made a quickfire 26 from 13 balls hitting four fours and a six, was dismissed by Athar Mehmood, who took two wickets for 36 runs.

Northern managed a meagre 133 for eight after their captain Nauman Ali elected to bat. Aamer Jamal’s 24-ball 38 not out, which included four sixes, provided some respite to the defending champions, who had half of their batting line-up back in the pavilion for just 37 runs. Sarmad Bhatti was the other notable run-getter in the innings as he hit a six and two fours in his 33 off 28 balls.

“It has been an exciting journey and we got to play some quality cricket despite the Covid-19 protocols in place,” Nauman Anwar told pcb.com.pk. “We have really enjoyed our time over the last two, three weeks. That each and every player of our team raised his hand when the situation demanded and delivered is the reason behind our success in this event.

“The most memorable match for us was our opening match, which was against Sindh [which Central Punjab won by four wickets]. The Central Punjab-Sindh rivalry always brings out the best from all the players . . . what made it further exciting was the fact that it went deep into the last over,” Nauman added.

Akram Raza, the head coach of Central Punjab Second XI team, said: “I have been working extensively with most of these players since the last year and I can comfortably say that these players have a great potential and a lot of hunger to progress.”

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Southern Punjab, locked at six points each, finished second and third. Sindh and Balochistan ended their journey on fourth and fifth positions.

Scores in brief: Northern 133-8, 20 overs (Aamer Jamal 38 not out, Sarmad Bhatti 33; Waqas Maqsood 3-23, Kamran Afzal 2-14, Mohammad Ali 2-30)

Central Punjab 134-3, 18.1 overs (Junaid Ali 66 not out, Nauman Anwar 26; Athar Mehmood 2-36)