Staff Report
Rawalpindi: Middle-order Danish Aziz once again produced a match-winning knock, guiding Sindh to a thrilling win over Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in the 23rd match of the National T20 Cup.
KP decided to hand the last over to Iftikhar Ahmed with 19 runs required. The 24-year-old Danish brought the chase of 139 to the last ball. Sindh required five runs and Danish smashed a six to give Sindh their third consecutive win of the competition. Danish remained unbeaten on 72 off 47 balls. He smashed eight fours and four sixes.
Sindh suffered a horrifying collapse at the top as KP bowlers outclassed them to 34/7 in eight overs. Danish partnered with Anwar Ali to add a 77-run stand for the eighth wicket. Anwar went back to the pavilion courtesy of a brilliant flying catch by skipper Mohammad Rizwan.
For KP, Usman Khan Shinwari picked three while Imran Khan took two. Shaheen Afridi and Musadiq Ahmed picked one each.
Earlier, Sindh restricted KP to 138/9 in 20 overs after opting to bowl first. KP rested veteran batsman Mohammad Hafeez and struggled from the start. They lost last match hero Fakhar Zaman (0) in the first over. Rizwan (11) became the victim of a brilliant catch by Mohammad Asghar at mid-off.
KP suffered a drastic collapse as they were 87/7 after 15.1 overs, however, pacer Shaheen Afridi (14) and Usman Shinwari (36*) posted a 29-run stand for the eighth wicket. KP managed to reach a decent total courtesy of Usman’s blistering batting as he smashed 20 runs in the last over of the innings
