Khyber Pakhtunkhwa won their second contest of Pakistan Cup under Ahmed Shahzad’s captaincy against Balochistan. KPK scored 246/8 in their quota of 50 overs, but, Balochistan fell 74 runs short.
Ahmed Shahzad, who was leading KPK after Younis Khan left Pakistan Cup in midway due to poor umpiring, won the toss and elected to bat first. The skipper led from the front as scored 79 off 70 deliveries. KPK lost two early wickets, they were 44/2. Shahzad had a handy partnership with the young Zohaib Khan. The two contributed 75 runs together before Azhar Ali removed Ahmed Shahzad.
Zohaib Khan held one end and kept scoring while he saw his partners getting out at the other end of the wicket. Zohaib scored an impressive 82 runs off 112 deliveries. Bismillah Khan was the third highest scorer for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with just 20 runs.
Bilawal Bhatti was the pick of the bowler for Balochistan, he took 2 wickets in his 9 overs, conceding just 35 runs with an economy rate of 3.88.
Balochistan had a decent start to the game as the openers provided a 53 runs stand. Azhar Ali fell to Asghar Khan at a score of 27 runs. Azhar Ali’s wicket was the beginning of an end for Balochistan. Babar Azam was the only batter for Balochistan, who went on to score a half-century. He got out after putting 50 runs on the board.
Umar Akmal once again disappointed his fans by scoring a duck. Umar Gul and Saeed Ajmal had a 37 run last-wicket partnership. Saeed Ajmal remained the third highest scorer for Balochistan with his 23 runs on 17 deliveries.
Zohaib Khan had a brilliant outing; he took 4 wickets in 9.1 overs, giving away just 18 runs. He got the Man of the Match award for his outstanding allround performance in the match.
