Bahawalpur and Multan secure tight win

Bahawalpur and Multan 160 for 7 (Yasin 50*, Maqsood 42, Hotak 3-36) beat Afghanistan 156 for 9 (Mohibullah 49*, Shahzad 37, Babar 4-28) by three wickets
Scorecard

Bahawalpur and Multan clinched a tight three-wicket victory, helped by an unbeaten half-century from Naved Yasin and a four-wicket haul from Zulfiqar Babar, against Afghanistan in Multan.

Afghanistan, after being put in to bat, struggled to steady their innings, losing wickets frequently. Opener Mohammad Shahzad and Mohibullah Paak put up some resistance, scoring 37 and 49 not out respectively to mitigate the damage done, with seven batsmen scoring in single digits. Spinner Babar took 4 for 28 in his ten overs; Kashif Naved and Imranullah Aslam were the other wicket-takers.

Bahawalpur and Multan were jolted early in their chase when Aslam was run out off the first ball of the innings. A 47-run stand between Usman Tariq and Sohaib Maqsood, and later a 30-run stand between Maqsood and Yasin, helped them recover. The chase got tougher with wickets falling, largely through spinner Hamid Hotak, who had bowled well in his previous match too, but Yasin stuck till the end to see his side through.