Karachi
Northern defeated the previously unbeaten Southern Punjab by 40 runs in the final of the National T20 2nd XI tournament at the National Stadium Karachi on Thursday.
Southern Punjab fell 40 runs short of Northern’s 196 runs as they collapsed from 128/4 to 156/all out at the National Stadium.
Earlier, Northern were put to bat by Southern’s skipper Faizan Riaz who won the toss. Northern scored 197 for the loss of 7 wickets in the allocated 20 overs. Shoaib Ahmed scored 68 off 45 deliveries with the help of three shots over the fence and four strokes to the boundary line.
Batting at number 7, Jamal Anwar added a quick 40 off 21 balls with the help of five boundaries and a shot for maximum to help Northern put a defendable total.
Zulfiqar Babar was among the noted bowlers from Southern Punjab who took 3 wickets, conceding 28 runs from his quota of four overs. Mohammad Imran got two wickets to his credit. Chasing a target of 197, Southen Punjab went off to a desirable start as openers Zeeshan Malik and Mukhtar Ahmed took the total to 84/0 in eight overs.
However, their chase was halted when Osama Mir removed both the openers in the 9th over as they shared 85 for the first wicket. Zeeshan Ashraf was first to go after a remarkable knock of 61 off 26 balls with the help of three sixes and eight fours. Mukhtar followed his partner two balls later after scoring 22.
Although the openers had provided a solid base to the remaining batsmen of Southern Punjab, much was not done as it ended to 156 all out in 18th over.
Osama Mir bagged three wickets for Northern while Salman Irshad and Nauman Ali got two wickets apiece. Jamal Anwar was adjudged man of the match while Nauman Ali was named player of the tournament for his notable all-round performance throughout the tournament. However, the highlight of tournament was Zeeshan Malik who was named best batsman of the tournament for scoring 395 runs in 7 innings.—Agencies
