Danish Aziz last-ball six seals stunning Sindh win

Sindh beat Khyber Pakhtunkhwa by two wickets

A stunning 47-ball 72 from Danish Aziz helped Sindh snatch victory off the final ball against Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Needing 15 off the final three balls and five off the last, Aziz smashed Iftikhar Ahmed for six to seal the unlikeliest of wins to put Sindh on the brink of the semi-finals. Aziz had come in with Sindh tottering at 32 for 4 and watched them slip further to 34 for 7 in a chase of 139, before a 77-run partnership with Anwar Ali, and a stunning last-over onslaught, blindsided KP.

It had been a strangely subdued first innings from the usually free-scoring KP, with Fakhar Zaman failing to follow up his heroics from Monday. Sohail Khan, who was superb all evening, removed him in the first over for a duck and only conceded 12 off his four for two wickets. KP never quite managed to string together a partnership and at one stage looked as if they might struggle to cross 100, before an unlikely rearguard from Usman Shinwari, who smashed 36 off 15, took them to 138.

It appeared they would have nothing to worry about, with KP’s bowlers swarming all over Sindh. Shinwari’s figures of 4-0-20-3, combined with another stellar outing for Shaheen Afridi, and the wickets of Asad Shafiq and Azam Khan for Imran Khan saw Sindh’s batting line-up blown away. At 34 for 7, it looked like a record-breaking defeat was on the cards, before an exercise in salvaging respectability turned into a partnership that gave Sindh a sniff. With 19 required off the last over, Aziz held his nerve, a straight six off the final ball sealing the most remarkable finish of the tournament.

Source: ESPN Crickinfo

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *