RAWALPINDI: Peshawar region pulled a sensational six wickets win over spirited Lahore Blues in their third round first phase match of the in the Cool & Cool Present Jazz National T20 Cup 2016 being played here at Pindi Stadium on Friday.
Lahore Blues in their turn gathered 137 runs for seven wickets and later Peshawar achieved 139 runs for the loss of four wickets with 10 balls to spare. Their opener Rafatullah Mahmand playing the lead role in Peshawar’s win which at one moment seemed slipping away.
Rafat and his opening partner Israrullah had been winning match consistently for Peshawar but in today’s match, it was only Rafat who maintained the status by scoring unbeaten 45 runs. His partner could last at the crease for eight balls scoring just 11 runs.
Rafat maintained his grip in batting to see Peshawar did not slip away to defeat. He not only kept the score ticking but also got his partner at the crease rotating the figures.
He enjoyed small partnerships until he found a match winning stand with Zohaib Khan. Rafat from his end, he saw Fakhar Zaman 10, Shoaib Maqsood 20, and Iftikhar Ahmed 26 lost their wickets and at last he and Zohaib 23 not out completed the score.
Zafar Gohar, Agha Saleem and Raza Ali Dar shared the four wickets that fell from Peshawar line up taking two and one each in sequence.
Having decided to bat first, Lahore Blues saw its front line batsmen walk back to the pavilion with little contribution and its lower middle order came to its rescue. From the upper order Nasir Jamshed could make 11 runs in 12 balls.
Their number four batsman showed patience to score 20 runs in 22 balls, Saad nasim added 18 and Raza Ali Dar 11. But the score stabilizing innings came from Agha Salman and Fahim Ashraf. The two joined together at 84 for six to take the score to 137 for seven. Fahim at 22 lost his wicket facing 13 balls but Agha Saleem kept thing moving at the other end and remained the highest scorer with 32 runs. His not out innings had two fours and a six and he played 27 balls.
Anwar Ali, Zohaib Khan and Imran Khan while taking Lahore’s wickets in frequent intervals also contained them to a low total. Anwar had three, Zohaib two and Imran one conceding 28, 20 and 31 runs respectively. With this win, Peshawar stands tall over the top of the points table with eight points.
