Mohmand, Rizwan ace 179 chase for Panthers

Rafatullah Mohmand and Mohammad Rizwan stroked rapid half-centuries, helping Peshawar Panthers chase down 179 with six wickets in hand and one over to spare against Abbottabad Falcons in Faisalabad. Panthers lost Israrullah for a duck in the third over of the chase, but by then Mohmand had already come out firing, hitting 18 runs off Ahmed Jamal's first over. Mohmand added a further 70 runs for the second wicket with Iftikhar Ahmed, as he eventually blazed 78 off 34 balls with 10 fours and four sixes.

At 102 for 1 inside 10 overs, Panthers were well on course, but Mohmand and Iftikhar fell in quick succession, opening the doors slightly for Falcons. However, Rizwan counterattacked and steered his team home, stroking an unbeaten 28-ball 51 with four fours and three sixes.

Falcons, opting to bat, had earlier been buoyed by handy knocks from all their top-order batsmen to end with 178 for 4. Yasir Hameed (20) and Sajjad Ali (52) first added an opening stand of 66, setting up an ideal stand for Adnan Raees (45*) and Kamran Ghulam (32) to launch a late surge.

Rawalpindi Rams comfortably defended 152 against Sialkot Stallions, who managed 127 for 9 in their chase to go down by 25 runs. Barring Ayaz Tasawwar, who made an unbeaten 64, no other Stallions batsman made more than 15. Mohammad Asghar (3 for 29) and Samiullah (2 for 9) had reduced Stallions to 86 for 9 by the end of the 16th over. The highest partnership of the innings was 41 for the last wicket between Tasawwar and Najaf Shah, the latter contributing nothing to the stand. Tasawwar faced 50 deliveries and struck five fours and four sixes.

After Stallions had chosen to bowl, Bilawal Bhatti (4 for 27) and Usama Mir (3 for 21) struck regularly but could not prevent Rams from scoring 152, with Najaf conceding 43 in four overs. A third-wicket stand of 48 between Khurram Shehzad (32) and Zahid Mansoor (27) set up the innings before quick 20s down the order from Mohammad Nawaz and Jamal Anwar helped Rams recover from 112 for 6.