KARACHI: Southern Punjab just can’t get it right in the ongoing National T20 Cup in Rawalpindi as pressure mounted on their underperforming wicket-keeper/batter Azam Khan.

Change on the leadership front didn’t work either on Friday when Sohaib Maqsood relinquished the captaincy after four straight losses at the Pindi Cricket Stadium. Incoming skipper Aamir Yamin met the same fate as Balochistan bulldozed Southern Punjab by eight wickets.

Balochistan’s second triumph in five outings was marred by a horrific injury to their captain Imam-ul-Haq during the first half of the match when he crashed into a commercial hoarding while trying to stop a flick by Sohaib. Imam, clearly grimacing in agony, was immediately taken to hospital with the extent of the injury yet to be confirmed.

Sohaib — who along with Azam and Khushdil Shah are in the Pakistan squad for this month’s Twenty20 World Cup — top-scored for the second game running as he followed his knock of 75 against Northern on Wednesday with another half-century; the swashbuckling right-hander struck six fours and two sixes in making 54 off 34 deliveries.

While the left-handed Khushdil managed a 22-ball 25 (three boundaries), Azam’s wretched form with the willow continued when the burly right-hander fell for just 2 while missing an arm ball from part-time spinner and out-of-favour Pakistan batter Haris Sohail in a futile attempt to play an overambitious sweep.

The wicket-keeper/batter, who has been surprisingly picked as Mohammad Rizwan’s understudy for the World Cup, has mustered just 55 runs from five innings.

The solitary partnership of note during Southern Punjab’s innings came when Sohaib and Hassaan Khan added 71 in 49 deliveries with young Hassaan making clean strikes with three maximums during a 22-ball 28.

Balochistan were quite brilliant in the field with Haris taking a couple of excellent slip catches and Umaid Asif catching Aamir Yamin (25 off 12, two sixes and two fours) with a low diving effort in the deep.

Umaid and Junaid Khan shared six wickets between them for 59 runs in eight overs with fellow pacer Khurram Shehzad grabbing 2-34.

With Imam unable to bat, Balochistan’s young pair of openers, Abdullah Shafiq (44 off 28, five fours and one six) and player-of-the-match Abdul Wahid Bangalzai (50 off 42, seven boundaries) began with a 55-ball stand of 84.

Haris, who returned undefeated with 47 (35 balls, six fours) then came out to play a series of exquisite strokes in the typical left-hander mould as he and Wahid put the result beyond doubt, while stitching together a partnership of 55 from 34 balls.

Southern Punjab were further handicapped by Dilbar Hussain’s nightmarish first appearance in this edition. The fast bowler overstepped three times in his first over and on each occasion, the free-hit produced a four as the fourth over of the innings went for 20 runs. The 28-year-old from Faisalabad bowled two more no-balls in the 12 over, but fortunately the freebies on offer didn’t cost much this time.

At the time of filing this report, Sindh and Northern were in action during their top-of-the-table clash.

Scoreboard

SOUTHERN PUNJAB:

Zeeshan Ashraf c Haris b Junaid 10

Sohaib Maqsood c Khurram b Umaid 54

Salman Ali Agha c Abdullah b Khurram 6

M. Imran Randhawa c Haris b Junaid 0

Hassaan Khan c Bismillah b Umaid 28

Khushdil Shah c Umaid b Junaid 25

Azam Khan lbw b Haris 2

Aamir Yamin c Umaid b Khurram 25

Umar Khan c Abdullah b Umaid 12

Dilbar Hussain not out 0

Naseem Shah not out 11

EXTRAS (W-1) 1

TOTAL (for nine wkts, 20 overs) 174

FALL OF WKTS: 1-12, 2-19, 3-28, 4-99, 5-100, 6-103, 7-132, 8-146, 9-163.

BOWLING: Khurram Shehzad

4-0-34-2 (1w); Junaid Khan 4-0-29-3; Umaid Asif 4-0-30-3; Kashif Bhatti 2-0-23-0; Mohammad Mohsin

4-0-34-0; Haris Sohail 2-0-24-1.

BALOCHISTAN:

Abdullah Shafiq lbw b Umar 44

Abdul W. Bangalzai lbw b Aamir 50

Haris Sohail not out 47

Sohail Akhtar not out 16

EXTRAS (LB-2, W-10, NB-7) 19

TOTAL (for two wkts, 18.4 overs) 176

FALL OF WKTS: 1-84, 2-135.

DID NOT BAT: Imam-ul-Haq, Bismillah Khan, Mohammad Mohsin, Umaid Asif, Kashif Bhatti, Khurram Shehzad, Junaid Khan.

BOWLING: Umar Khan 3.4-0-33-1; Aamir Yamin 3-0-28-1 (1w); Naseem Shah 3-0-14-0; Dilbar Hussain

2-0-35-0 (5nb); Hassaan Khan

2-0-18-0; (1nb, 1w); Salman Ali Agha 1-0-12-0; Mohammad Imran Randhawa 4-0-34-0 (1nb).

RESULT: Balochistan won by eight wickets.

UMPIRES: Qaiser Waheed and Nasir Hussain.

TV UMPIRE: Saqib Khan.

MATCH REFEREE: Mohammad Anees.

PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Abdul Wahid Bangalzai (Balochistan).

SATURDAY’S FIXTURES: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa vs Balochistan (3:00pm PST); Central Punjab vs Sindh (7:30pm PST).

Published in Dawn, October 2nd, 2021