Thatās all from this low-scoring contest, folks! Peshawar Region came out on top against Faisalabad Region and sealed their spot in the semifinal. For now, itās me Deepak Prakash signing off on behalf of co-commentator Saptak Sanyal and scorer/analyst Yogesh Kumar. CHEERS!
Iftikhar Ahmed (Peshawar Region Captain): "Yeah, it was a close game. A senior player's responsibility is to take the game deep. A total of 150-160 is a good score on this pitch. Teams that perform well in the middle phase are winning, and we will aim to finish strong in the upcoming matches."
Asif Ali (Faisalabad Region Captain): "We fell 15-20 runs short, and I think that cost us the game. Our team is young, but we gave our best effort and will try to come back stronger next year."
Mohammad Amir Khan (Player of the Match):"Thanks to the almighty. I wanted to bowl in the right lengths. It was tough to play the shots in this wicket.
Fast bowlers had some challenges here. Multan was a better place comparatively. Yes the wish was to finish the game. Thanks to the almighty again as I became successful in finishing the game."
Player of the Match: Mohammad Amir Khan
Moment of the Match: Mohammad Amir Khan
Time for the post-match presentations.
Abbottabad Region will face Peshawar Region in the semi-final of the National T20 Cup 2025.
11:04 PM IST, 10:34 PM Local Time: Mohammad Amir Khan finishes things in style, and Peshawar Region cross the line with 3 wickets and 4 balls to spare, securing their place in the semi-finals.
Earlier, after opting to bat first, Faisalabad lost Muhammad Faizan (4) and Awais Zafar (4) cheaply inside three overs. Taimoor Sultan (36) and Ali Shan (51) steadied the ship and added 70+ runs for the third wicket, putting things back on track. However, the set batters failed to convert their start into a big score and departed at the wrong moment. Peshawar bowlers grabbed wickets at regular intervals in the death overs and restricted their counterparts to 138/7 in 20 overs. Mohammad Amir Khan shone with the ball for Peshawar, grabbing 3 wickets. Niaz Khan chipped in with a couple of wickets, while Maaz Ahmed Sadaqat and Mohammad Imran JNR contributed one wicket each. Peshawar got off to a decent start in pursuit of 138 runs, with their openers Maaz Ahmed Sadaqat (14) and Sahibzada Farhan (26) batting positively in the powerplay. However, they failed to continue their momentum for a long time, and Peshawar lost a couple of wickets in quick succession. Iftikhar Ahmed struggled to score freely, but Israrullah scored at a decent pace and took off the pressure from the skipper. The match looked set for Peshawar, but all of a sudden they lost four wicketsāIsrarullah (30), Niaz Khan (0), Iftikhar Ahmed (20), and Aamer Azmat (0)āin quick succession, which injected life into the contest. However, Mohammad Amir Khan (14*) scored crucial runs at the tail end and finished the game with a maximum and 4 balls to spare. Ahmed Safi Abdullah starred with the ball for Faisalabad, claiming three wickets. Shahzad Gul bagged a couple of wickets, while Khurram Shahzad and Momin Qamar shared one wicket each. Stay tuned for the presentationā¦..