Half-centuries from Iftikhar Ahmed and Mohammad Rizwan helped Peshawar Region outplay Karachi Region Blues by seven wickets and defend the T20 title in Rawalpindi. All of Peshawar’s seven wins in the tournament have come batting second, and this one meant Karachi crashed to their fifth loss in the finals of the T20 Cup.
Chasing a challenging target of 177, Peshawar began strongly with opener Rafatullah Mohmand striking 43 off 23 balls, including four fours and 2 sixes in a 48-run opening partnership. Rafatullah and Israrullah fell in a space of eight balls, but Iftikhar and Riawan then took charge, adding an unbroken 110 off only 64 balls for the fourth wicket.
Rizwan crunched 58 off 34 balls while Iftikhar hit 57 off 40 balls as Peshawar sealed the win with seven balls to spare.
After having inserted Karachi, Peshwar struck in the first over with Imran Khan removing Shahzaib Hasan for a duck. Khalid Latif (23) and Khurram Manzoor (41), though, worked past the early blow and kept runs flowing through a 52-run stand. Imran Khan Jnr then broke the partnership in his first over when he had Latif chip a return catch. Three overs later, Manzoor was run out. Imran Khan Jnr then broke Karachi further with the wickets of Asad Shafiq and Fawad Alam.
Sarfraz Ahmed, who had pushed himself down the order, however, injected some late impetus with an unbeaten 47 off 26 balls. He scored three consecutive boundaries in the penultimate over as Karachi tallied 29 runs in the last 12 balls. Left-arm seamer Imran Khan Jnr finished the tournament as the joint-highest wicket-taker alongside Karachi’s Rumman Raees. Faisal Mubashir ended as the leading run-getter with 357 runs at 89.25 followed by four Karachi batsmen.
