LAHORE: In what was a disastrous National T20 Cup campaign for them, Southern Punjab signed off in style on Sunday.

Last year’s runners-up humbled holders Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by 11 runs at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium.

With the semi-final lineup almost decided, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa afforded a fourth loss on Sunday. At the time of filing this report, Balochistan were in dire straits in Sunday’s night game against Central Punjab and almost doomed to join Southern Punjab in being eliminated out of the competition.

In what was eventually just their third triumph in 10 games during the current edition, Southern Punjab owed a huge debt to Tayyab Tahir. The opener’s blistering 48-ball innings of 78 was the cornerstone of his side’s final tally of 193-5.

Tayyab’s career-best effort in only his sixth T20 appearance was his third 50-plus score and second of this tournament. The 28-year-old right-hander struck eight fours and three sixes before a pull against ex-Test pacer Imran Khan was well caught in the deep by Nabi Gul with the total on 147 in the 16th over.

Azam Khan, who had been making headlines in recent weeks, missed a golden chance to make amends after being ditched from the Pakistan T20 World Cup with yet another brief stay at the crease. But the portly wicket-keeper/batter still managed to thrash three sixes and a four during a 13-ball cameo of 25.

Iftikhar Ahmed tinkered with the batting order by promoting a trio of greenhorns above himself. But barring Kamran Ghulam (46 off 33, four fours and two sixes) and Nabi Gul (54 off 31, five fours and three sixes) the ploy didn’t worked as Khyber Pak­h­tunkhwa ended up reaching 182-6.

Scoreboard

SOUTHERN PUNJAB:

Tayyab Tahir c Nabi b Imran78

Sharoon Siraj c Aamir b Niaz18

Salman Ali Agha c Haris b Niaz16

Azam Khan c Maaz b Arshad25

Aamir Yamin c Iftikhar b Imran24

Moinuddin not out8

Yousuf Babar not out14

EXTRAS (LB-2, W-8)10

TOTAL (for five wkts, 20 overs)193

FALL OF WKTS: 1-39, 2-95, 3-130, 4-147, 5-175.

DID NOT BAT: Zia-ul-Haq, Mohammad Ilyas, Ali Majid, Umar Khan.

BOWLING: Imran Khan 4-0-35-2; Arshad Iqbal 4-0-36-1 (1w); Asif Afridi 4-0-36-0; Niaz Khan 4-0-42-2 (2w); Maaz Khan 3-0-32-0 (1w); Kamran Ghulam 1-0-10-0.

KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA:

Mohammad Haris lbw b Ali6

Aamir Azmat c Salman b Ilyas6

Kamran Ghulam b Aamir46

Sahibzada Farhan c Ilyas b Salman3

Nabi Gul c Azam b Ilyas54

Iftikhar Ahmed not out33

Asif Afridi run out2

Niaz Khan not out11

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-17, NB-3)21

TOTAL (for six wkts, 20 overs)182

FALL OF WKTS: 1-13, 2-26, 3-32, 4-111, 5-130, 6-153.

DID NOT BAT: Imran Khan, Arshad Iqbal, Maaz Khan.

BOWLING: Aamir Yamin 4-0-40-1 (1nb); Ali Majid 4-0-22-1 (2w); Zia-ul-Haq 4-0-38-0 (1w); Mohammad Ilyas 4-0-37-2 (2nb, 2w); Salman Ali Agha 2-0-20-1; Umar Khan 2-0-24-0 (1w).

RESULT: Southern Punjab won by 11 runs.

UMPIRES: Asif Yaqoob and Zameer Haider.

TV UMPIRE: Shozab Raza.

MATCH REFEREE: Ali Naqvi.

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

MONDAY’S FIXTURES: Sindh vs Balochistan (3:00pm PST); Khyber Pakhtunkhwa vs Northern (7:30pm PST).

Published in Dawn, October 11th, 2021