KARACHI, 8th Dec 2023: The penultimate day of the Super Eight stage of the National T20 Cup 2023-24 saw the usual Peshawar dominance whereas Karachi Whites and Abbottabad also had good outings in their respective games.
Lahore Blues and Sialkot will lock horns in the fourth match of the day at 2000 PKT. The coin toss will take place at 1930 PKT. Rawalpindi batters struggled against Peshawar at UBL Sports Complex as they collapsed to 107 all out in 19 overs. Rawalpindi, batting first, were reduced to 42-5 with Umar Amin (31, 33b, 2x4s, 1×6) and M Raza-ul-Mustafa’s (20, 27b, 2x4s) scratchy innings along with Mehran Mumtaz’s (13) contribution helped Rawalpindi go past 100-run mark. Peshawar pacer M Imran picked up 6-16.
In reply, Peshawar made little fuss in chasing down Rawalpindi’s paltry total. Sahibzada Farhan (47, 23b, 4x4s, 4x6s) continued his red-hot form while Iftikhar Ahmed contributed with an unbeaten 30 off 24 balls. M Nawaz bagged two wickets while Mehran Mumtaz picked one. M Imran was declared player of the match.
Karachi Whites racked up their second successive win as they chased a 140-run target set by FATA with eight wickets in the bag and seven balls to spare. Put into bat first, FATA lost their opening batter M Naeem Snr for a duck. Karachi’s Arif Yaqoob struck four times in the middle overs that left FATA struggling. Skipper Khushdil Shah scored 13 as he was dismissed by Asad Shafiq. Maaz Khan’s (28) late burst helped FATA post 139-8. Karachi Whites openers, Khurram Manzoor (49) and Ammad Alam (53), stitched a solid partnership of 105 runs. Azam Khan (23*) and Omair Bin Yousuf (14*) took Karachi Whites over the line. Arif Yaqoob was named player of the match.
Abbottabad strengthened their semifinal qualification chances by securing their fourth win in the Super Eight Stage as they beat Lahore Whites by 22 runs. Put into bat first, Sajjad Ali Jnr (90, 51b, 8x4s, 6x6s) and Kamran Ghulam (87) produced a mammoth partnership of 166 runs as Abbottabad posted a huge total of 205-8 in 20 overs. In reply, Lahore Whites suffered two early losses as Ahmed Shehzad (1) and Tayyab Tahir (2) failed to get out of the blocks. M Faiq (63) and skipper Saad Nasim (57) put up a partnership of 94 runs that kept Lahore Whites in the game for some time but Shahab Khan then broke the back of Lahore’s batting, claiming four wickets. They lost their last eight wickets for just 63 runs. Sajjad Ali Jnr was awarded player of the match.
Reference Link: https://www.nation.com.pk/08-Dec-2023/peshawar-karachi-whites-abbottabad-register-victories-in-national-t20-cup