Lahore, Karachi bag wins on opening day of National T20 Cup
2026-03-08 - 12:03
Lahore Whites and Karachi Whites secured victories on the opening day of the National T20 Cup 2026 at the Imran Khan Cricket Stadium in Peshawar on Saturday night. In the tournament’s first game, Lahore Whites’ Farhan Yousaf’s 61 not out and opening batter Muhammad Akhlaq’s 46-ball 58 powered their side to a six-wicket victory as they chased Peshawar’s total of 167-9. After losing three wickets for 48 runs in the powerplay, Farhan and Akhlaq knitted an 80-run partnership off 47 deliveries to take their side close to victory. Akhlaq was dismissed in the 14th over after scoring 58 off 46, hitting eight fours and one six. Farhan remained unbeaten on 61 off 31, laced with five fours and four sixes. Mohammad Nawaz picked up two of the three early wickets to fall, while Usman Tariq and Mohammad Imran Jnr dismissed one batter each. Earlier, Peshawar’s opening batter Yasir Khan (65) shared a 44-run opening wicket partnership with Abuzar Tariq (26). Yasir added another 24 runs for the second wicket with Mohammad Haris (12) before sharing another 56-run alliance with Waqar Ahmed (28). For Lahore Whites, skipper Aamir Jamal spearheaded the bowling attack, grabbing three wickets for 40 in his four overs. Mohammad Rameez Jnr aided his captain, returning figures of 4-0-24-2. Ubaid Shah and Naseem Shah also had one wicket each to their name. In the second game of the day, Karachi Whites romped to an eight-wicket win with 17 balls to spare against Faisalabad while chasing 172. After putting Faisalabad into bat first, Karachi Whites struck thrice inside the first four overs as Faisalabad slipped from 34 for no loss in 2.1 overs to 39 for three in four overs. With Faisalabad at 127 for five after Irfan’s dismissal in the 16th over, Awais launched a late charge to power his side to 171-7 in 20 overs. He finished unbeaten on 81 off 53 balls, hitting six fours and three sixes. For Karachi Whites, Saim Ayub and Muhammad Umar both returned similar figures of 4-0-30-2. Mohammad Hamza Sohail and Saqib Khan removed one batter each. In reply, opening batter Saim (33) and Abdullah Fazal provided their side with a decent start, stitching a 63-run stand. After Zaman Khan removed Saud Shakeel in the 12th over with 88 on the board, Karachi Whites’ Khawaja Nafay and Abdullah combined to smash an unbeaten 86-run alliance off 35 balls for the third wicket to take their side home. PCB opens nominations for PSL 11 Hamaray Heroes