Sharjeel hits century in Sindh win over Northern

KARACHI: Sharjeel Khan blasted 108 to enable Sindh to move to the summit when they downed Northern by seven wickets in their fifth round fixture of the Pakistan Cup One-day tournament for First XI here at SBP Ground on Saturday.

Left-handed Sharjeel hammered 13 fours and five huge sixes in his quick-fire 74-ball feat as Sindh chased the 187-run target in the 29th over after losing just three wickets.

Sharjeel, who hit his eighth List A hundred, dominated the 160-run partnership for the opening stand with Khurram Manzoor, who fell for 59-ball 52, striking five fours. Azam Khan remained not out on 16 and Asad Shafiq two not out. Hammad Azam got 2-21 in six overs.

Earlier, Asif Ali smashed 60-ball 66 with nine fours and two sixes to enable Northern to reach a respectable total of 186 all out. Sohail Tanvir made 49-ball 52, hammering four fours and three sixes.

Left-arm pacer Mir Hamza (3-36) and left-arm spinner Danish Aziz (3-23) bowled superbly.

The third win took Sindh to the top of the points table with six points. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa also have six points, but Sindh have an edge over them on the net run-rate.

At the NBP Sports Complex, Central Punjab romped to their second win from five games when they defeated Balochistan by four wickets.

Qasim Akram (60*) and Tayyab Tahir (47) did well with the bat as Central Punjab chased the 214-run target in 46 overs. Qasim hammered seven fours in his 72-ball match-winning knock. Tayyab, who opened the innings, smashed four fours and two sixes from 50 balls. Off-spinner Raza-ul-Hasan produced his best List A figures of 4-36 in ten overs. Left-arm spinner Jalat Khan got 2-42.

Earlier, Kashif Bhatti (59) and Jalat Khan (55) rescued Balochistan with fine fifties.

At one stage, Balochistan were gasping at 101-8. However, Kashif and Jalat shared 104 for the ninth wicket to help their side post 213 all out.

Kashif hit eight fours and one six from 83 balls, while Jalat smacked two fours and four sixes in his 58-ball feat.

Leg-spinner Usman Qadir got 4-41 in his quota of ten overs. Ahmad Bashir (2-66) and Kamran Afzal (2-35) ably backed Usman.

Here at UBL Sports Complex, Mukhtar Ahmad (108*), Sohaib Maqsood (101) and skipper Hussain Talat (100*) blasted centuries to enable Southern Punjab to pull off their second win when they defeated Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by eight wickets in a high-scoring game. Southern Punjab chased the stiff 317-run target in the 41st over with an enviable ease after losing just two wickets.

Mukhtar, who hit his fifth List A hundred, smashed 11 fours and three sixes in his 109-ball knock. Mukhtar added 160 runs for the second wicket with Sohaib Maqsood, who smacked seven sixes and 11 fours in his 58-ball fifth List A hundred.

Mukhtar then put on 146 for the third wicket unbroken association with Hussain Talat.

Imran Khan Senior and Asif Afridi got one wicket each.

Earlier, skipper Khalid Usman smashed an excellent 74-ball 91 not out to lift KP from 141-6 to 316-9 in the allotted 50 overs.

Khalid smashed six sixes and five fours in his commanding effort. He added 119 runs for the seventh wicket with Mohammad Haris, who scored 64-ball 68, striking eight fours and one six.

Ali Shafiq was the pick of the bowlers with 3-46 in his quota of ten overs. Mohammad Imran got 2-82 in ten overs.

Southern Punjab advanced to four points.