Peshawar defeat Karachi to win Pakistan’s T20 championship

Peshawar defeat Karachi to win Pakistan’s T20 championship: Half-centuries from Iftikhar Ahmed and Mohammad Rizwan helped Peshawar Region beat Karachi Region Blues by seven wickets and defend their T20 title. Despite not having big names in the side Peshawar made lightwork of the 178 run chase to win with 7 balls to spare. Young wicket-keeper batsman Muhammad Rizwan was the star of the evening, scoring an unbeaten 58 to feature in a 100-run stand with Ifthikar Ahmed, who also scored 57 not out.

It is worth noting that the Peshawar team had lost many of its prominent players ahead of the season to other teams under a free transfer window policy of the cricket board. Sarfaraz Ahmed, the Karachi skipper and Shahid Afridi the national T20 captain were left to swallow the harsh pill as they were favourites to win the title. Having been in the finals six times they have failed lift the trophy even once.

After having inserted Karachi, Peshwar struck in the first over with Imran Khan removing Shahzaib Hasan for a duck. Khalid Latif (23) and Khurram Manzoor (41), though, kept runs flowing. Imran Khan Jnr broke the 52-run partnership in his first over when he had Latif caught and bowled. Three overs later, Manzoor was run out. Imran then took wickets of Asad Shafiq and Anwar Ali and finished as the tournament’s joint highest wicket-taker – 16 from seven matches at an average of 12.12. Sarfraz Ahmed, who had pushed himself down the order, provided some late impetus with an unbeaten 47 off 26 balls as Karachi reached 177.

Chasing a challenging target of 177, Peshawar began strongly with opener Rafatullah Mohmand bashing 43 of the 48 runs for the opening wicket. Rafatullah and his partner Israrullah fell in a space of eight balls, but Iftikhar and Rizwan then took charge, adding an unbroken 110 off only 64 balls to keep the chase on track. Rizwan crunched 58 off 34 balls while Iftikhar hit 57 off 40 balls as Peshawar sealed the win with seven balls to spare.

Brief Scores:

Karachi Region Blues – 177 for 8 (20 ov) (Sarfraz 47, Manzoor 41; Imran 3-26)

Peshawar Region – 178 for 3 (18.5 ov) (Rizwan 58*, Iftikhar 57*; Afridi 1-21)

Peshawar Region won by 7 wickets

Player of the match – Mohammad Rizwan (Peshawar Region)
Batsman of the series – Iftikhar Ahmed (Peshawar Region)
Bowler of the series – Imran Khan (1) (Peshawar Region)