Pakistan Cup: Balochistan, KP and Sindh register fifth-round wins

FAISALABAD: Balochistan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Sindh registered wins during the fifth round of the Pakistan Cup of the ongoing domestic season.

In the first match of today's round at the Iqbal Stadium, Southern Punjab won the toss and decided to field first in an important game against Balochistan.

The decision turned out to be a bad one, as Balochistan posted a massive 320 runs total in 50 overs, with Haseebullah (142) and Asad Shafiq (101) scoring sensational centuries, and Yasir took five wickets, helping their team to win the game by 105 runs. 

Imran Butt and Haseebullah provided Balochistan with a 64-run opening start. While a brilliant third-wicket stand of 182 runs between Haseebullah and Asad turned out to be a decisive factor.  

While in terms of bowling for SP, Hassan Khan, Aamir Yamin and Mohamamd Imran took one scalp each. 

Balochistan kept SP under pressure by removing Zeeshan Ashraf for zero, while Tayyab Tahir (37) and Sharoon Siraj (62) steered the inning. But Balochistan took quick wickets as half of SP's batting line-up was sent back with the score of 131 runs. 

Khushdil Shah (50) and Hassan (25) tried to score, but the opponent's bowlers kept the game out of their reach, bowling out SP for 215 runs. 

For Balochistan, veteran leggie Yasir was exceptional with figures of 5-44 in 10 overs, while, Kashif Bhatti took three. 

Northern vs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

The second match at the House of Northern in Islamabad, saw KP winning the match by five wickets, as they successfully chased down the 270-run target, with Mohammad Sarwar Afridi scoring a brilliant 119. 

After being invited to bat first by Northern, KP openers provided them with a 37-run opening start. But, after that, they lost three quick wickets for just 18 runs with Sarwar Afridi doing the most of the damage. 

However, Umar Amin's sensational 124-run knock and little cameos from other batters helped Northern reach 269 runs in 50 overs. 

For KP, Sarwar was the pick of the bowlers with figures of 3-24, while Arshad Iqbal, Khalid Usman, Adil Amin and Wasim Jr took one each. 

Though, KP didn't get off to a good start as they were three wickets down for just 44 runs with Imad Wasim taking two wickets. But, Sarwar Afridi once again came to his team's rescue as his brilliant knock of 119 and 60 runs from Adil Amin helped KP chase down the target in 49.3 overs. 

Central Punjab vs Sindh 

In the other match at the Multan Cricket Stadium, Sindh won the toss and elected to bowl first and their bowlers were all guns blazing, dismissing CP for just 134 runs. 

CP was provided with a stable 35-run start by openers Rizwan Hussain (28) and Ahmed Shehzad (17) after that wickets continued to tumble in quick successions, with half of the batting line-up was sent packing for just 68 runs. Umar Akmal showed some fight with a gritty 39-run knock, otherwise, the other batters failed to play big innings. 

For Sindh, all bowlers contributed well, with Shahnawaz Dahani and Abrar Ahmed taking three wickets each. Sohail Khan took two, while Mir Hamza and Danish Aziz took one each. 

Though, CP bowlers did very well to keep Sindh under pressure and defend the small total. Ahmed Bashir and Raza Dar dismissed four Sindh batters with just 45 runs, but Khurram Manzoor's (42) and Mohammad Hasan's (30) ensured a three-wicket win. 

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