After an epic day of cricket at Iqbal Stadium, Faisalabad, the two teams that have qualified for the final are Northern and Balochistan.
The final will be played today at 5:30 pm at the same venue. Imad Wasim will lead Northern whereas Haris Sohail will be captaining Balochistan in the all-important clash.
Before we move onto the probable playing XIs for the final, let’s recap the two semi-finals which took place on Wednesday.
Semi-Final 1 – Northern vs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa
Northern had to defend a target of 149 against a strong Khyber Pakhtunkhwa side including the likes of Fakhar Zaman, Sahibzada Farhan, Khushdil Shah, and Iftikhar Ahmed.
Before that, Usman Shinwari was hard to stop as he rattled the Northern batting line-up with a five-for while conceding only 13 runs in his 4 overs.
It was a game of bowlers as Northern’s emerging star, Haris Rauf, was left with 8 runs to defend in the last over with Iftikhar Ahmed and Zohaib Khan on strike.
Here’s how the last over went down:
W, 2wd, W, W, 0, W, 1
For his match-winning bowling, Haris Rauf won the man of the match award.
Semi-Final 2 – Balochistan vs Southern Punjab
The second semi-final was a clash between the senior campaigners of Southern Punjab and a relatively young Balochistan unit.
Southern Punjab was strengthened with the presence of Shoaib Malik and Mohammad Hafeez who were the main scorers in the first innings with 64 and 65 runs respectively to put a total of 173/5 on the board.
Although the chase was a steep one, contributions from a number of players including the in-form Awais Zia, Haris Sohail, and Hussain Talat kept them in the hunt. However, it was Amad Butt’s brilliance at the end which did it for Balochistan.
Needing 18 from the last over, Amad Butt smacked Umaid Asif all around the park to take his team to the final. He was adjudged man of the match for his heroic innings of 29* from 14 balls.
Final – Northern vs Balochistan
Northern Region:
Umar Amin, Ali Imran, Sohail Akhtar, Rohail Nazir, Asif Ali, Mohammad Nawaz, Imad Wasim, Shadab Khan, Sohail Tanvir, Mohammad Amir, Haris Rauf
Balochistan Region:
Awais Zia, Imam-ul-Haq, Bismillah Khan, Imran Farhat, Haris Sohail, Hussain Tallat, Amad Butt, Umar Gul, Yasir Shah, Akif Javed, Ali Shafiq
Who do you think will lift the trophy? Let us know in the comments section.
Baluchistan
Northern Region win, they have strong bowling side..