MULTAN: Khyber Pakhtukhwa qualified for final of Kingdom Valley National T-20 2022-23 after defeating Northern by five wickets in the match played at Multan Cricket Stadium here on Sunday.
A 89-run opening wicket partnership between Sahibzada Farhan and Rehan Afridi and 37 runs from Mohammad Sarwar Afridi at the crucial juncture of the match saw defending champions Khyber Pakhtunkhwa through to the final.
It would be the third final for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in as many years and had won consecutive finals.
Chasing 165 to win, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa openers Farhan and Rehan provided a flying start to the innings as both right-handed batters scored 57 runs in the powerplay.
Wicketkeeper-batter Rehan struck seven fours and one six and top-scored with a 39-ball 54. Farhan – who scored a match winning century against Balochistan in the previous day in the 29th fixture of the tournament – scored 39 off 29 balls today, striking two sixes and one four.
For Northern, Zaman Khan struck twice in the 16th over of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s batting when he accounted for Kamran Ghulam (eight off nine) and Adil Amin (three off three) to give a glimpse of hope to Northern – that had staged a perfect comeback last evening against Southern Punjab to qualify for the semi-final, but sensible batting from Sarwar (37, 28b, three fours, one six) helped Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to achieve the target in the 19th over.
Earlier, Northern managed 164 for four after opting to bat first.
Opening batter Nasir Nawaz top-scored with 72 off 55 balls, smashing five fours and three sixes. Taimoor Sultan and Nasir stitched a 42-run partnership for the first wicket. After the departure of Taimoor, the right-handed Nasir was joined by his captain Umar Amin (32, 26b, three fours, one six) and the pair added 70 in 52 balls.
Arshad Iqbal was the most successful Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s bowler with two for 34, while Mohammad Abbas Afridi and captain Khalid Usman scooped a wicket each.
Rehan Afridi was declared player of the match.
