KARACHI: Although Southern Punjab, as extensively anticipated provided the rut they are in, crashed to a 6th straight National T20 Mug defeat, there was a flicker of hope for Pakistan’s Twenty20 Word Cup confident Azam Khan.

Ridiculed for his absence of form in the previous video games of the Rawalpindi leg– which wrapped up at the Pindi Cricket Arena on Sunday evening– the 23-year-old kid of former Pakistan captain Moin Khan lastly showed what he is really with the ability of as he thrashed three sixes and 3 fours.

Azam struck 45 from 40 deliveries in what was his first considerable knock of the competition but in spite of his initiative, Southern Punjab were blown away by Central Punjab, who cruised to a seven-wicket stroll on the back of captain Babar Azam’s record-breaking innings.

Strongly rooted at the base of six-team table, Southern Punjab are a shadow of the group which reached the final of the 2020 edition and also their newest ordeal hardly amazed any individual following the domestic T20 activity.

Within the area of 4 deliveries in the very first over of the suit, Faheem Ashraf cared for both the openers– Zeeshan Ashraf and also Sohaib Maqsood– after Aamir Yamin had actually chosen to bat first.

Nonetheless, Salman Ali Agha as well as Azam, that was advertised in the order, after that came together to share a collaboration of 84 from 66 spheres. But once they were separated, Southern Punjab revealed no objective to post a combating rating than 119 all out in the 19th over.

Salman, as a matter of fact, scored his runs at a much better strike-rate than Azam. His 28-ball 40 included five borders. 4 batters obtained ducks while besides Salman as well as Azam, nobody else succeeded in entering into double figures.

Offered his heavy frame, Azam absolutely has major concerns when it comes to running between gates. Clearly lacking in cricketing common sense and the required athleticism, he was as well slow-moving to make the fold when Ahmed Shehzad threw down the stumps at the non-striker end.

Faheem, who beat Hasan Ali to the player-of-the-match prize, asserted 3-14 with all his sufferers failing to open their account, while Hasan tidied up the tail to end up with 4-24 in 3.4 overs.

It was then Central Punjab captain Babar’s rely on hog the spotlight. The Pakistan skipper eclipsed Chris Gayle’s record of getting to 7,000 T20 runs in 5 less innings than deep space Boss’s 192 innings.

Babar heated up for the second-leg fixtures in Lahore by striking five fours and two sixes in a 49-ball undefeated knock of 59 to extend his tally of perform at the top of batting leaderboard in the recurring occasion to 286 runs.

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Kamran Akmal, who changed fellow wicket-keeper/batter Mohammad Akhlaq in the playing XI, added a 26-ball 28 and aided Babar share a second-wicket stand of 64 before turning into one of both victims of young spinning all-rounder Hassaan Khan.

Central Punjab, among the 4 sides to have won 4 of their 6 matches up until now, next take on leaders Sindh in Wednesday’s opening video game at the Gaddafi Arena.

Current standings

( Arranged under played, won, shed, factors, net run-rate):.

Sindh 6 4 2 8 +0.647.

KP 6 4 2 8 +0.530.

CP 6 4 2 8 +0.458.

Northern 6 4 2 8 +0.361.

Balochistan 6 2 4 4 -1.147.

SP 6 0 6 0 -0.695.

Scoreboard.

SOUTHERN PUNJAB:.

Zeeshan Ashraf b Faheem 0.

Sohaib Maqsood c Kamran b Faheem 0.

Salman Ali Agha c Sameen b Hasan 40.

Azam Khan go out 45.

Khushdil Shah lbw b Usman 2.

Aamir Yamin c and b Faheem 0.

M. Imran Randhawa c Qasim b Wahab 5.

Hassaan Khan b Hasan 9.

Zia-ul-Haq lbw b Hasan 0.

Mohammad Ilyas not out 6.

Naseem Shah c Babar b Hasan 8.

EXTRAS (LB-1, W-2, NB-1) 4.

TOTAL (full blast, 18.4 overs) 119.

FALL OF WKTS: 1-0, 2-1, 3-85, 4-89, 5-90, 6-90, 7-101, 8-102, 9-105.

BOWLING: Faheem Ashraf 4-0-14-3 (1w); Sameen Gul 4-0-31-0; Hasan Ali 3.4-0-24-4 (1w); Usman Qadir 4-0-36-1 (1nb); Wahab Riaz 3-0-13-1.

CENTRAL PUNJAB:.

Ahmed Shehzad lbw b Naseem 9.

Babar Azam not out 59.

Kamran Akmal c Aamir b Hassaan 28.

Qasim Akram st Azam b Hassaan 10.

Hussain Talat not out 10.

ADDITIONALS (LB-1, W-5, NB-1) 7.

COMPLETE (for three wkts, 17.2 overs) 123.

FALL OF WKTS: 1-12, 2-76, 3-103.

DID NOT BAT: Shoaib Malik, Faheem Ashraf, Hasan Ali, Wahab Riaz, Usman Qadir, Sameen Gul.

BOWLING: Aamir Yamin 2-0-18-0 (1nb); Naseem Shah 3-0-25-1; Zia-ul-Haq 3-0-19-0; Mohammad Ilyas 2-0-17-0 (1w); Hassaan Khan 4-0-15-2; Mohammad Imran Randhawa 1-0-13-0; Khushdil Shah 2.2-0-15-0 (1w).

RESULT: Central Punjab won by seven gates.

UMPIRES: Imtiaz Iqbal and also Saqib Khan.

TV UMPIRE: Nasir Hussain.

SUIT UMPIRE: Iftikhar Ahmed.

PLAYER-OF-THE-MATCH: Faheem Ashraf (Central Punjab).

WEDNESDAY’S COMPONENTS (second leg, Lahore): Central Punjab vs Sindh (3:00 pm PST); Balochistan vs Northern (7:30 pm PST).