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It was another Day and Night 50-Overs Encounter at Iqbal Stadium Faisalabad, Pakistan, on 14th September. Star-studded Panthers locked horns with Dolphins in the third match of the tournament.
Considering the good batting conditions, Panthers won the much-needed toss and decided to bat on a considerably flat pitch. Opening the Inning for the Panthers, Pakistan International player Saim Ayub who has had good form in the recently completed Pakistan Super League came up with Abdul Bangalzai. However, they were not able to build up a strong platform as both the Openers Ayub and Banglzai went for 6 (off 12 Balls) and 5 (off 7 Balls ) respectively.
After that, Asif Ali got Umar Siddiq run out when he just came into form having 30 off 39 Balls. At one stage they were struggling big time. Still, Pakistan International star Usman Khan was able to show why he is so highly rated by producing an amazing Century where he was able to score 111 runs off 110 Balls by maintaining a strike rate of just over 100, which made the Panthers get over 300 easily. He got an amazing support from Haider Ali and star All-rounder Shadab Khan as they were able to score 63 off 46 and 65 off 45 respectively. Not only the runs they made but also the strike rate they maintained helped a lot in the course of ending up at a team score of 328 at the end of their 50 overs.
Although the bowling performance was poor by Dolphins, Usman Qadir was able to build up a strong spell by taking 3 wickets for 63 runs. Abbas Afridi and Mir Hamza were also able to contribute with 22 wickets each at the end of the inning.
On the other hand, Dolphins were able to get into a considerably good chase as their openers Farhan and Hurraira were able to get scores of 52 (off 69 Balls) and 39 (off 30) respectively. Unfortunately, their middle and lower order struggled except for the half-century (65 runs off 62) by Qasim Akram. Efforts of Akram and Farhan went in vain as the whole team got bundled out for just 278 runs which gave 50 runs win over Dolphins for the Panthers.
Player of the Match was Fat Bowling Super Star Mohammad Hasnain who was able to get 5 wickets for 74 runs in his 10 overs. Usama Mir and Mubasir Khan were also able to contribute with 2 wickets each at the end for Panthers.
The 4th Match of the Pakistan Champions Cup was something different for change as it was a low-scoring encounter between Markhors and Stallions at Iqbal Stadium Faisalabad. As usual on this pitch, Markhors won the toss and elected to bat first. Starting the inning top-order Batters were not able to lay a strong foundation as openers Fakhar Zaman and Mohammad Faizan went for 20 runs and 2 runs respectively. Followed by just 11 runs by Ghulam at Number 3 position.
The middle order was able to add some sort of stability to the inning as Salman Agha and Iftikhar Ahmed were able to score two half-centuries (51 and 60 respectively) which made them get to 231 runs on a considerably tough pitch to bat on. Jahandad Khan and Mehran Mumtaz were able to produce exceptional bowling spells as they were able to get 4 wickets for 49 runs and 3 wickets for 56 runs at the end of their 10 overs.
On the other hand, as a reply, Stallions were only able to score 105 runs as all the Batters failed except for the 45 runs off 45 Balls from Babar Azam with exactly 100 strike rate. The second-highest score of the inning was just 19 runs scored by Shan Masood. Bowling was exceptional by Markhors Bowlers as Zahid Mahmood was able to create an exceptional spell of 5 for 18 runs, which gave him the opportunity to receive the Player of the Match award. In the end, Markhos were able to win the match by 126 runs which gave them a real boost for the tournament.
Another game with a good score as Panthers locked their horns with Lions after just one day break at Iqbal Stadium Faisalabad on 16th September. As usual, Panthers won the toss again and decided to bat first on a good batting pitch. Getting to bat, Panther's top order failed again as they lost a few early wickets by leaving a lot to the middle order. However, middle order was successful again as Mubasir Khan got together with Haider Ali to build up a strong score for Panthers by getting scores of 90 and 84 respectively. Panthers were able to end up at 283 runs at the end of their innings which gave them a considerable platform to launch their bowlers.
Lions’ star Bowlers Shaheen Shah Afridi and Ahmed Daniyal were able to produce good bowling spells of 3 for 57 and 3 for 47 respectively. Considering the chase for Lions, they were able to get some what decent start as the opener Imam-ul-Haq was able to get 60 off 62 balls. However, the middle was not able to contribute for the winning cause as no one was able to score even above 40 runs except Imam. Second highest score of the inning was 35 runs made by Irfan Khan. In the end, Lions were bundled out for just 199 runs which gave Panthers another victory by 84 runs.
Panthers Bowlers were exceptional as Internationally experienced Shadab Khan and Usama Mir were able to get 3 Wickets each for just 42 runs and 55 runs respectively. Sirajuddin and Aamer Yamin were able to get 2 Wickets each as well. All Rounder performance by the Pakistan star Shadab Khan who was able to get 3 wickets for 42 runs and 37 runs off 29 balls won the Player of the Match award.
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