Sharjeel Khan’s 64 off 43 balls helped Sindh post 176
Sindh 176 for 7 (Sharjeel 64, Shakeel 28) beat Northern 62 for 3 (Nawaz 27) by three runs via DLS method
A spell of rain soaked up Northern’s hopes allowing Sindh to post a three-run victory under DLS method in the National T20 Cup, played in Rawalpindi. With this victory, Sindh climbed to the top of the table, winning four out of five matches. Northern suffered their second defeat to sit at third place with three wins from five games.
Chasing Sindh’s 176 for seven, Northern got off to a decent start scoring at a rate of 8.64 in the powerplay, but when the revised target was set at 66 from 7.3 overs, Northern fell short by a small margin to end at 62 for three.
Earlier in the overcast conditions, Northern picked up the wicket of Shan Masood in the second ball of the innings after opting to bowl first. Both Sharjeel Khan and Khurram Manzoor (15 off 17) helped recover from an early wobble putting on a 52-run stand for the second wicket. Sharjeel fell after hitting 10 fours and two sixes in his 43-ball 64. A few quick wickets saw Sindh reeling at 128 for five. Saud Shakeel played a cautious 28 off 21, but a cameo of 13 each by Anwar Ali and Rumman Raees in nine and five balls respectively boosted the total, with Sarfaraz Ahmed also helping the cause with his 18-ball 26.
For Northern, Salman Irshad, Shadab Khan and Muhammad Musa picked up two wickets each.
Northern made an impressive start to the chase by scoring 12 runs in the first over but lost Sarmad Hameed soon for five off six. Haider Ali (11 off 9) was the next man to fall, followed by Nasir Nawaz (27 off 19 balls), leaving Imad Wasim unbeaten at 13 when the rain came into play.