LAHORE: Southern Punjab really mean business in the second leg of the Nation T20 Cup in Lahore where they are back in the semi-final race.

Barely 18 hours after chalking up their first win in the competition luck has at last started to side with them as they sealed the Punjab derby against the superior Central side on Thursday.

While Zia-u-Haq and Tayyab Tahir were the unsung stars at the Gaddafi Stadium, Twenty20 World Cup aspirant Khushdil Shah finally hit form with a worthy innings. The left-hander had the satisfaction of striking the winning run — a crisp drive over mid-off to the fence when pacer Waqas Maqsood, returning to the side after missing several games, erred in length — to finish on 51 off 36 balls (eight boundaries).

Southern Punjab have a proud history of chasing down tall totals since this tournament was revamped in 2019. But here they were given a manageable 155-run target.

And despite losing Zeeshan Ashraf and Salman Ali Agha — the architect behind that stupendous chase against Northern on Wednesday night — inside the opening three overs, Southern Punjab were always on track.

Tayyab, the 28-year-old right-hander from Gujrat, marked just his fourth T20 appearance with well-constructed knock before being dismissed when only three runs were required. The hallmark of his batting was the way he pierced the field with attractive shots on both sides of the field.

Tayyab perished to a catch down the leg side to Wahab Riaz after adorning his highest T20 score of 68 from 52 balls with eight fours and a brace of sixes, after having shared a superb partnership of 92 with Khushdil.

Mohammad Imran Randhawa also made major contributions with both bat and ball. After returning outstanding analysis of 2-24 with his seamers, the all-rounder thrashed three boundaries and a pulled six off slow left-armer spinner Zafar Gohar — who finally got a game in place of the rested Usman Qadir —in a breezy 17-ball knock of 24.

With the Pakistan squad members preparing to enter the mandatory ICC World Cup bubble on Friday, Central Punjab sorely missed their regular skipper Babar Azam as the Pakistan captain opted to sit out his second straight match.

Central Punjab, sent into bat by Aamir Yamin, were at the receiving end from the opening over, the fourth ball of which found Kamran Akmal trapped in front for a duck by Aamir. Mohammad Akhlaq didn’t last long either when his off stump was rattled by Naseem Shah. Aamir then struck again to get rid of Saif Badar.

Hussain Talat and Shoaib Malik repaired the early damage by stitching together a partnership of 92 before Zia triggered another collapse by grabbing four of the last six wickets to fall for the addition of just 32 runs.

Zia — the 26-year-old left-arm pacer who once was destined to play topflight international cricket after showing immense promise at the junior level — claimed the prized scalp of Malik for a 24-ball 26 after the ex-Pakistan captain had become only the third player to surpass the 11,000-run mark in the T20 format.

Hussain once again looked in great touch as the left-hander struck six fours and three sixes in a 47-ball 68 before providing Khushdil with one of his three catches in the outfield.

Meanwhile, the Covid-stricken Balochistan were back in action after their fixture against Northern on Wednesday was rescheduled to Saturday after four players reported positive. They were in action against holders Khyber Pakhtunkhwa when this report was being filed.

Scoreboard

CENTRAL PUNJAB:

Kamran Akmal lbw b Aamir 0

Mohammad Akhlaq b Naseem 7

Hussain Talat c Khushdil b Imran 68

Saif Badar c Zia b Aamir 11

Shoaib Malik c Khushdil b Zia 26

Qasim Akram c Hassaan b Zia 0

Faheem Ashraf lbw b Zia 3

Hasan Ali b Imran 11

Wahab Riaz c Khushdil b Zia 4

Zafar Gohar not out 8

Waqas Maqsood not out 5

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-8, NB-2) 11

TOTAL (for nine wkts, 20 overs) 154

FALL OF WKTS: 1-0, 2-11, 3-30, 4-122, 5-122, 6-124, 7-137, 8-137, 9-144.

BOWLING: Aamir Yamin 4-0-22-2 (1nb); Naseem Shah 4-0-27-1 (1nb); Zia-ul-Haq 4-0-40-4 (2w); Salman Ali Agha 1-0-8-0 (2w); Umar Khan 2-0-17-0; Hassaan Khan 1-0-15-0; Mohammad Imran Randhawa 4-0-24-2.

SOUTHERN PUNJAB:

Zeeshan Ashraf c Kamran b Waqas 3

Tayyab Tahir c Wahab b Waqas 68

Salman Ali Agha c Malik b Faheem 1

M. Imran Randhawa c Hasan b Zafar 24

Khushdil Shah not out 51

Aamir Yamin not out 1

EXTRAS (LB-2, W-7) 9

TOTAL (for four wkts, 19 overs) 157

FALL OF WKTS: 1-15, 2-18, 3-60, 4-152.

DID NOT BAT: Azam Khan, Hassaan Khan, Zia-ul-Haq, Naseem Shah, Umar Khan.

BOWLING: Faheem Ashraf 4-0-35-1 (4w); Waqas Maqsood 4-0-42-2 (1w); Hasan Ali 4-0-39-0 (1w); Wahab Riaz 4-0-18-0; Zafar Gohar 2-0-15-1; Hussain Talat 1-0-6-0.

RESULT: Southern Punjab won by six wickets.

UMPIRES: Rashid Riaz and Zameer Haider.

TV UMPIRE: Asif Yaqoob.

MATCH REFEREE: Mohammad Javed.

PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Tayyab Tahir (Southern Punjab).

FRIDAY’S FIXTURES: Central Punjab vs Northern (3:00pm PST); Southern Punjab vs Sindh (7:30pm PST).

Published in Dawn, October 8th, 2021