Karachi: In the final of Pakistan Cup, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa defeated Central Punjab by 7 and won the trophy of the tournament.
Sahibzadi Farhan, who scored a century (132) in yesterday’s thrilling semi-final, once again scored a century and played a significant role in helping the team to victory.
In the final played at State Bank Stadium Karachi, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa captain Khalid Usman won the toss and elected to field.
Batting first, Central Punjab returned to the pavilion for 239 runs in 47 overs thanks to 67 runs by opener Tayyab Tahir, 50 runs by Qasim Akram and 48 runs by Raza Ali Dar.
For Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Asif Afridi took 5 for 39 and Mohammad Imran took 3 for 42.
In pursuit of the target of 240 runs in the final, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa fielded the opening pair of Sahibzada Farhan and Musaddiq Ahmed, who shared 127 runs in the semi-final yesterday.
The duo put up a 69-run stand for the first wicket, Musaddiq Ahmed returned to the pavilion with 33 runs, after which Amir Azmat reached the crease to accompany Sahibzada Farhan.
Both the players took the score to 135 for the second wicket. On this occasion, Amir Azmat left the field after playing an innings of 45 runs. He was bowled by Zafar Gohar.
Iftikhar Ahmed came on the third wicket. He along with Sahibzada Farhan took the score to 204 runs. On this occasion, Iftikhar Ahmed reached the pavilion by scoring 40 runs.
After that, Adil Amin came on the field to support Sahibzada Farhan, the unbeaten century maker of the match, and he returned only after leading both the teams to victory.
It should be noted that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has been the winner in the first eleven tournaments of all three formats of the season.