Anwar Ali blitz not enough for Sindh Knights

Anwar Ali cracked 67 from 36 deliveries but fell in the last over as Sindh Knights went down by six runs to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Fighters in the opening game of the Pentangular One Day Cup in Karachi.

Fighters appeared to be set for victory when Knights were reduced to 228 for 9 in their chase of 267 in the 48th over. But with an improbable 39 needed from 17 balls, Anwar nearly took Knights home. He came in at No. 7 with the score on 165 and clubbed eight fours and two sixes. Anwar's charge meant Knights seemed to have the game in the bag with seven required from the last five deliveries but he was stumped off left-arm spinner Zafar Gohar, who was Fighters' most successful bowler with 3 for 55. Yasir Shah was the most economical with 2 for 37, while captain Junaid Khan took 2 for 58.

Asad Shafiq contributed a steady 56 in the chase, while captain Fawad Alam made a quick 62. Both the batsmen were gone before the score reached 200, though, and the lower order caved in before Anwar threatened to stun Fighters.

After they chose to bat, Fighters innings was built by half-centuries from Israrullah (62) and Shoaib Malik (70) after which an unbeaten 103-run stand between Adnan Raees (50 not out) and Adil Amin (52 not out) took them to 266 for 4.