Pakistan Cup: Punjab book place in final, beat Sindh by 5 wickets
Punjab managed to chase Sindh's target of 159 runs with relative ease.
FAISALABAD (Dunya News) – Punjab booked a place in the Pakistan Cup final Friday after beating Sindh by 5 wickets in the 10th match of the Pakistan Cup series at Faisalabad s Iqbal stadium. Punjab had to chase a target of 159 runs, which it managed to with relative ease.
Shan Masood and Salman Butt opened for Punjab side. Both opening batsmen managed to provide their team with a solid start. Masood played a splendid innings of 55 runs while Butt managed to contribute precious 39 runs. Shoaib Malik and Muhammad Rizwan contributed 15 runs each to the innings. Displaying consistent and smart batting skills, Punjab’s team was able to chase down the target in only the 28th over.
Sindh’s Muhammad Amir and Sohail Khan attempted to give difficult time to Punjab and were successful to some extent, both grabbing 2 wickets each.
Earlier Sindh’s Captain, Sarfaraz Ahmed, had opted to bat first after winning the toss. Sindh’s batting order proved to be unsteady and collapsed, with majority of the players only contributing a few runs before being sent back to the pavilion by Punjab s bowlers. Fawad Alam had tried giving some strength to Sindh s innings but was dismissed after knocking 62 runs off 99 balls. Only 4 batsmen of Sindh s lineup were able to make it into the double figures.
Punjab s Ehsan Adil and Zulfiqar Babar displayed exceptional bowling performances as both bowlers managed to grab 3 wickets each. Sindh was bowled out for a total of 158 runs with 3.3 overs to spare. Meanwhile Amir Yamin and Kashif Bhatti picking 2 wickets each for Punjab.
On the other hand, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) team, despite suffering a debacle, has managed to reach the final as well.
KP’s coach Kabir Khan had announced to quit coaching if Younis Khan rejoined Pakistan Cup. The coach had said that the KP batsman misbehaved during team meeting which was unacceptable.
Know more: Will quit KP coaching if Younis rejoins Pakistan Cup: Kabir Khan
The coach said that Khan refused to accept him as his coach and disrespected him during a meeting. He also expressed reservations over not launching stern action against the player.