Central Punjab vs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa | National T20 Cup 2021 Final
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will face Central Punjab in the finals of National T20 Cup 2021. Iftikhar Ahmed led Khyber Pakhtunkhwa defeated Northern in the first Semi Final to qualify for the finals. A day prior to the Semi Final, KP defeated Northern by 92 runs and they repeated that once again in less than 24 hours. KP first restricted Northern to just 156 and then chased the total with 5 balls to spare. Skipper Iftikhar Ahmed was named man of the match in their semi final win. Iftikhar scored 45(17)* which proved to be match winning for his team. Apart from Iftikhar, KP’s top performers in the Semi Final were Arshad Iqbal with his 3 wickets and Sahibzada Farhan with his half century.
Central Punjab ran over Sindh quite easily in the second semi final. Key for Central Punjab were their spinners who bowled 8 overs together and picked 5 wickets. Qasim Akram had figures of 3/15 in his 4 overs while Zafar Gohar had figures of 2/15 in his 4 overs. This allowed Central Punjab to restrict Sindh to just 141. Sindh did manage to pick a wicket at front but afterwards, Central Punjab just cruised their way to the target. Kamran Akmal showed the first signs of some form and smashed an explosive fifty in the all important Semi Final. Shahzad and Kamran had a stand of 88 runs to ease up the chase. Kamran did get out, but Shahzad continued the good work with Hussain Talat. Shahzad got out unfortunately on 49, but Qasim Akram and Hussain Talat allowed Central Punjab to sail through easily.
This is the first final appearance by Central Punjab while Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are the defending champions of the National T20 Cup. Central Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa both have faced each other twice in this tournament in the group stage. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa won the first encounter while Central Punjab won the second game.
