Central Punjab vs Northern:

Northern: 222/6

Central Punjab: 226/6 (19.5/20 overs, target 223)

Central Punjab won the match by 4 wickets with a ball to spare.

Central Punjab defeated Northern by 4 wickets in the best match of the National T20 Cup so far. Northern piled up a total of 222 runs for 6 wickets while batting first. It looked as if Northern had already won the match with a target that huge. Asif Ali was unstoppable today with his batting. Imad Wasim also played his part with the bat in raising a total this big but it was all in vain as Ahmed Shehzad’s hundred secured the chase for Central Punjab.

Match Summary!@iamAhmadshahzad‘s heroics help Central Punjab gun down 223 runs target.

#CPvNOR SCORECARD ⬇️https://t.co/f0FUuyCnHX#NationalT20Cup pic.twitter.com/sOA4KxFqZq

— Pakistan Cricket (@TheRealPCB) October 15, 2019

Northern’s Asif Ali on fire:

Asif Ali played exceptionally well today. Asif Ali and Mohammad Nawaz put together a partnership of 107 runs. Mohammad Nawaz lost his wicket to Central Punjab’s Nasim Shah, after scoring 51 runs off 35 balls. Nawaz struck 4 sixes and a four, while Asif Ali kept hitting the ball out of the ground from the other end.

Asif Ali was on the road of breaking Ahmed Shehzad’s record of fastest T20 hundred by a Pakistani Batsman off 40 balls but he missed his hundred by just seven runs. Asif Ali scored 93 runs off 35 balls after he smacked 4 fours and 10 huge sixes all over the ground for Northern, securing a 200plus total for his team. Asif Ali was dismissed by Faheem Ashraf after Umar Akmal took the catch.

Northern’s Captain Imad Wasim faced five balls and struck four of them for a boundary. Imad Wasim contributed 22 runs off 5 balls after hitting 2 fours and 2 sixes against Central Punjab. Imad Wasim remained not out till the end as Northern set up a target of 223 runs for Central Punjab to chase.

Faheem Ashraf claims three:

Faheem Ashraf took 3 wickets for 44 runs in his 4 overs and remained the leading wicket-taker for Central Punjab. Waqas Maqsood claimed 1 wicket for 44 runs. Nasim Shah and Usman Qadir snatched 1 wicket each for Central Punjab.

Ahmed Shehzad secures win for Central Punjab:

Central Punjab required 223 runs off 120 balls to win the match. Ahmed Shehzad and Central Punjab’s captain Babar Azam opened the innings. Babar Azam lost his wicket for just 4 runs. Ahmed Shehzad, who recently was not able to perform that well in the T20I series against Sri Lanka in Lahore, outdid himself with the bat as he struck 111* to secure victory for Central Punjab.

Ahmed Shehzad struck a total of 13 fours and 3 sixes while also remaining not out for his team. It was Ahmed Shehzad’s fifth hundred in T20 cricket, the most by any Pakistani in the 20-over format. Kamran Akmal who has scored four T20 hundreds and is one step behind Ahmed Shehzad, scored 6 runs in this match before he was bowled by Northern’s captain Imad Wasim.

Rizwan Hussain, Saad Nasim, and Faheem Ashraf also played an important role in securing the win, while Ahmed Shehzad did most of the damage as Central Punjab gunned down the target of 223. Rizwan Hussain smacked 3 fours and a six, scoring 20 runs off just 8 balls, while Saad Nasim and Faheem Ashraf contributed 29 and 28 runs respectively.

Central Punjab on the National T20 Cup’s points table:

Central Punjab won their first match of the National T20 Cup after defeating Northern by 4 wickets and a ball to spare. Central Punjab now sits on the fifth position on the points table with 2 points, having won 1 out of the 2 they played.