RAWALPINDI: A combined bowling effort followed by an anchoring half-century by opener Abdul Wahid Bangalzai led the Panthers to a resounding six-wicket victory over the Dolphins in the 13th match of the T20 Champions Cup here at the Rawalpindi Stadium on Monday.
Seeded first, the bottom-placed batting unit struggled against the Panthers’ disciplined bowling attack and managed to amass 106/9 in 20 overs.
The Sarfaraz Ahmed-led team had a disastrous start to their innings as they were 3/5 in two overs.
Opening batsman Mirza Tahir Baig tried to launch a counter attack with his 13-ball 19 but Mohammad Wasim Jr sent him away in the sixth over to intensify the Dolphins’ problems.
The Dolphins continued to lose at regular intervals despite some notable contributions in the middle from Qasim Akram (14), Muhammad Akhlaq (19) and Faheem Ashraf, who scored his team’s best 34-ball 25.
Wasim Jr led the bowling attack for the Panthers with three wickets, followed by Amad Butt and Arafat Minhas with two each, while Ali Raza scored with one wicket.
Chasing a modest 107, the Panthers cruised to a six-wicket victory with 30 balls to spare.
The Shadab Khan-led team, however, got off to a contrasting start as they lost three wickets for just 14 runs in three overs until Abdul Wahid Bangalzai and Danish Aziz recovered.
The pair added 82 runs for the fourth wicket, putting the Panthers close to their third victory of the tournament.
Bangalzai remained the Panthers’ top scorer with a 38-ball 51, made up of six fours and two sixes, while the Dane made an unbeaten 38 off 34 balls.
For the Dolphins, Ihsanullah and Sameen Gul claimed two wickets each.
The six-wicket win took the Panthers to third place in the Champions T20 Cup standings with six points from six matches, while the Dolphins remained at the bottom with no win after playing five matches.
