National T20 Cup 2020 | Southern Punjab [161/3] beat Northern [160/5] by 7 wickets to reach final

[MMHS]

The squad looks stronger. But there are some ordinary players like AMir, Asif and Tanvir in the final 11. They are hardly any match winner.

Compare with any other XI - Mo Wasim will struggle to justify second half of this tournament.... final nail was this SF. All three are PAK internationals and at least two were instrumental when Pakistan reached No. 1 ranking, not far ago and at their official age, both should be at the peak of their game. Tanvir is probably expired by now, but the guy was quite unlucky not to play more T20I for PAK till may be 2019.

 

[PakPremi]

Selecting Asif A ahead of Umar Amin to punish him twice for a selfish inning he played the other day, and Imad batting ahead of Rohail cost them the match.
Northern need to get rid of Amir, Tanvir, Nawaz, Asif A from their squad, and make Shadab captain.
Shan was outstanding as captain and batsman today.

 

[DandyFellow]

What a comeback from Southern Punjab. I remember Shan Masood before the tournament said that due to the structure of the tournament the team that peaks later in the tournament will do better than the rest. Northern wouls have won the tournament if it was single leg but as it went longer they lost the gas. Southern Punjab are the favourites to win the tournament but two interesting games left still in the tournament.

 

[asadee]

Shan is captaincy material no doubt

 

[DandyFellow]

Shan Masood is a sensible character and today's chase makes me wonder if he should be given a long rope in the ODI team. I certainly feel he is best suited for odi cricket especially due to the flat wickets these days. I like his measured approach and he has the hitting ability too now.

 

[DandyFellow]

One out of Shan Masood or Imam should open in the ODI team. They are pretty similar in their approaches and Haider on the other end would be better than Fakhar.

 

[shamaan]

Compare with any other XI - Mo Wasim will struggle to justify second half of this tournament.... final nail was this SF. All three are PAK internationals and at least two were instrumental when Pakistan reached No. 1 ranking, not far ago and at their official age, both should be at the peak of their game. Tanvir is probably expired by now, but the guy was quite unlucky not to play more T20I for PAK till may be 2019.

Struggle to justify becouse he played youngesters and gave everyone a chance to play if wasim was so selfish he could have played his full strength throwout the tournament but he didnt.the only mistake he had was playing an extra bowler than a batter

 

[shamaan]

I have said this before on a few other posts that amir has declined heavily and not good enough anymore but people stil want him in the Pakistan squad

 

[naseem]

Said it before it is now tough to stop SP

 

[saabir]

Very poor tactics by Coach Mohd Wasim. It's the old mentality of won the toss bat first in big games has backfired. Northern were looking very nervous did not push the accelerator. 160 was never going to be good in this type of pitches against SP side no matter how good u r as a bowling side. Overall very poor tactics by northern side

 

[GoUgandaCranes]

What a comeback from Southern Punjab. I remember Shan Masood before the tournament said that due to the structure of the tournament the team that peaks later in the tournament will do better than the rest. Northern wouls have won the tournament if it was single leg but as it went longer they lost the gas. Southern Punjab are the favourites to win the tournament but two interesting games left still in the tournament.

Exactly. He walked the talk and the team has gone from strength to strength. Brilliant cricket and captaincy in the second half of the tournament from SP and Shan.

 

[MenInG]

Brilliant half-centuries by openers Zeeshan Ashraf and man-of-the-match Shan Masood inspired Southern Punjab to a commanding seven-wicket victory in the first semi-final of the National T20 Cup for First XI teams played at the Pindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi on Saturday. Hot favourites and defending champions Northern had no answers to the Southern Punjab outfit that added another chapter to their remarkable comeback story in the tournament.

At the end of the Multan-leg Southern Punjab were languishing at the bottom of the six-team table with four defeats in as many matches. After a miraculous victory against Sindh at the start of the Rawalpindi-leg, the team roared back in contention and sneaked through to the semi-finals on the back of a heroic chase against Balochistan last night which improved their net-run-rate considerably, helping them seal the fourth semi-final spot.

On Saturday evening, the foundations of Southern Punjab’s 161-run chase were laid by captain Shan and Zeeshan Ashraf who added 91 runs for the first-wicket in a mere 10.2 overs. The left-handed Zeeshan set the tone of the 62-ball partnership with a typically aggressive 55 off 32 balls. He hit four fours and as many sixes as the formidable Northern bowling attack searched for ways to stem the flow of runs.

Shan hit some big shots after Zeeshan’s departure as the hero of last night’s 10.4-over 166-run chase Sohaib Maqsood joined his captain in the middle. The pair added 50 runs off 38 balls before Sohaib fell to Shadab Khan for 16 off 18 balls.

Khushdil Shah (1) was sent packing by Haris Rauf, Khushdil’s departure left Northern needing 16 runs off the last 17 balls.

Shan shouldered the responsibility of taking his team to the target diligently with an unbeaten 78 off 58 balls (six fours, two sixes) as Southern Punjab completed the chase in 18.4 overs to send the defending champions packing. The victory was Southern Punjab’s fourth consecutive win of the tournament.

Southern Punjab will now take on the winners of the second semi-final between Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (tonight) in Sunday’s tournament final which will start at the same venue at 7:30 pm local time.

Reflecting on his performance, man-of-the-match Shan Masood said: “I don’t think I deserve the award, Zahid Mahmood bowled really well, and Zeeshan Ashraf batted very well. We had to play a major match only 12 hours after finishing our last match; I am extremely pleased with the team’s performance. We wanted to groom players in the tournament and I think we have achieved that, we had a very poor start as we kept conceding 200 plus scores, but we had faith in our players We today have defeated a team that can be called a full Pakistan eleven which makes us very pleased. We will now try to perform tomorrow in the big final.”

Earlier, Northern won the toss and opted to bat first. Openers Ali Imran and Zeeshan Malik provided their team a 37-run start in 5.2 overs, Zeeshan (16) fell to Mohammad Abbas.

Imran provided real impetus at one end by scoring a brisk 50 off 35 balls with four fours and three sixes. The right-hander became one of leg-spinner Zahid Mahmood’s three victims. Zahid who took his tournament wickets tally to 11 during this spell also accounted for Haider Ali (18) and Asif Ali who perished for a golden duck. Zahid ended with figures of three for 28 in four overs.

After Imran’s departure, Southern Punjab tightened the screws with some tidy overs. Northern upped the scoring rate as 22 runs were taken off the 18th over bowled by Mohammad Ilyas with Shadab hitting him for two consecutive sixes followed by two consecutive fours.

Shadab and captain Imad Wasim added 56 runs off 41 balls, Imad was run out in the penultimate over for 19 (20 balls).

Shadab scored a scintillating unbeaten 48 off 27 balls (four fours, three sixes) to take his side to their eventual 160 for five total in 20 overs.

Scores in brief

Result – Southern Punjab won by seven wickets

Northern 160-5, 20 overs (Ali Imran 50, Shadab Khan 48 not out; Zahid Mahmood 3-28)

Southern Punjab 161-3, 18.4 overs (Shan Masood 78 not out, Zeeshan Ashraf 55; Musa Khan 1-22)

Man-of-the-match – Shan Masood (Southern Punjab)

 

[Extra_Cover]

I have been an advocate for Imad to take over T20 captaincy last year. Looking at the way he captained and dictated certain things in Northern team shows he is not the ideal captain I thought he would have been.

This tournament albeit a domestic competition has shown many flaws in not only Imad's captaincy but also his fitness standards. I hope someone senior in PCB management has a word with him on his fitness.

 

[angrypathan]

Northern's decline since Imad took over as captain has been alarming.

 

[Markhor]

Compare with any other XI - Mo Wasim will struggle to justify second half of this tournament.... final nail was this SF. All three are PAK internationals and at least two were instrumental when Pakistan reached No. 1 ranking, not far ago and at their official age, both should be at the peak of their game. Tanvir is probably expired by now, but the guy was quite unlucky not to play more T20I for PAK till may be 2019.

I think we're putting too much stock into a coach's ability from T20 cricket. In this format all it takes is one bad day and you're out. SP were red hot and are peaking at the right time.

Mohammad Wasim should be judged on how Northern fare in the QEA Trophy. Even here, winning 8 of 11 matches is a good achievement.

 

[MMHS]

I think we're putting too much stock into a coach's ability from T20 cricket. In this format all it takes is one bad day and you're out. SP were red hot and are peaking at the right time.

Mohammad Wasim should be judged on how Northern fare in the QEA Trophy. Even here, winning 8 of 11 matches is a good achievement.

I actually was the one who said couple of weeks back that Mo Wasim isn't that a genius that he is made out - with that squad of Northerns, most coaches will dominate the tournament in T20, it's almost half of PAK T20I squad including 5 of the 11 starters - that discussion went more than I liked, so had to remind it today that guy has failed to make even the final and that too for a tactical blunder.

He may end-up as a very good coach, age is in his side and guy looks educated, probably a Dutch national now - so, he can upgrade himself in UK as a Coach, but at present he'll do well to focus on developing Northern's FC team, which is punching below than the players pool available.

 

[shamaan]

I have been an advocate for Imad to take over T20 captaincy last year. Looking at the way he captained and dictated certain things in Northern team shows he is not the ideal captain I thought he would have been.

This tournament albeit a domestic competition has shown many flaws in not only Imad's captaincy but also his fitness standards. I hope someone senior in PCB management has a word with him on his fitness.

Hes always had issues but hes one of the favourites and doesnt need to pass fitness test double standards of Pakistan cricket

 

[shamaan]

I think we're putting too much stock into a coach's ability from T20 cricket. In this format all it takes is one bad day and you're out. SP were red hot and are peaking at the right time.

Mohammad Wasim should be judged on how Northern fare in the QEA Trophy. Even here, winning 8 of 11 matches is a good achievement.

Mo wasim gave a chance to every single player in the squad even shadab didnt play of thier matches ain't these tournaments meant to be here to groom the youngesters and give them a chance look at kpk only haris was given a chance

 

[shamaan]

Why is everyone on about winning I rather see upcoming players than winning the touanement and no stars emerged!

 

[Syed1]

Wow what a turn around from bottom of the table to finalists.

 

[Syed1]

Why is everyone on about winning I rather see upcoming players than winning the touanement and no stars emerged!

No stars emerged? What are you on about.


I barely watched the tournament and even I know how Abdullah Shafique, Zeeshan Malik, Danish Aziz, Azam Khan and a few others announced themselves. Sure we didn't find some pacers but finding quality bats is the need of the hour.

 

[Savak]

Khusdils and Hussein Talats knocks against Sindh changed everything for South Punjab. They were languishing at the bottom of the table in that match and had they lost that match, they would have been knocked out of the tournament.

 

[Savak]

Just watched the match again.

I wonder if Imad should even be playing cricket, his knees look terribly shot, compare his footwork as a batsman early on vs now, this affects his running between the wickets and his fielding. If his knee is messed up, he will naturally struggle very hard to keep himself fit as you will find it hard to do Cardio with such poor knees.

Huge blunder by Northerns to replace Shadab as captain

 

[Thunderbolt14]

I actually was the one who said couple of weeks back that Mo Wasim isn't that a genius that he is made out - with that squad of Northerns, most coaches will dominate the tournament in T20, it's almost half of PAK T20I squad including 5 of the 11 starters - that discussion went more than I liked, so had to remind it today that guy has failed to make even the final and that too for a tactical blunder.

He may end-up as a very good coach, age is in his side and guy looks educated, probably a Dutch national now - so, he can upgrade himself in UK as a Coach, but at present he'll do well to focus on developing Northern's FC team, which is punching below than the players pool available.

Do your research. The FC team that is “punching below” its weight finished second last year with a team full of 20 year olds and second XI nobodies.

Today there was one strategic error by Wasim and that was one too many bowlers (could have fit an extra batsman) but the biggest errors were on the field by Imad Wasim, whose slow innings cost Northern 15 extra runs. Further, his bowling changes showed he had absolutely no idea what team he was working with - he didn’t even know what the squad was when he first came back from England.

Truth is, the Shadab-Wasim combo was fantastic and Imad’s inclusion has barely helped with the bat - only two of Imad, Amir, and Sohail Tanvir should have been playing today.

 

[Thunderbolt14]

[MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] by the way I am still waiting for you to respond to our discussion on Babar at Central Punjab, where according to you he has had no impact upon his return to the side.

 

[MMHS]

[MENTION=79064]MMHS[/MENTION] by the way I am still waiting for you to respond to our discussion on Babar at Central Punjab, where according to you he has had no impact upon his return to the side.

I think, I gave it - may be you didn't understood. Let me try again.

On his return, he played 5 games for CP, they won 3 and lost two .... and one of the win by a whisker of 3 runs in a game where he opened and made 39 at 118, which dented their NRR - eventually, they missed the play-off by NRR.

Your point was without his 86 they would have lost - they did lose with one of his 86; other 86* was out of a chase of 167 - CP closing the game in 17 overs and 8 wickets at hand; his another 64* was chasing 127 in 14 overs with nine wickets at hand. And, the game that actually sealed their fate (tournament went out of their control) was a chase of 205, which they lost by 3 runs ..... and he made a golden duck.

I hope you got your answer for a batsman arguably considered as the best batsman in world & bench-mark for his generation by his uber fans, playing in a very low standard domestic tournament, for quite a decent team for the competition.

 

[MMHS]

Do your research. The FC team that is “punching below” its weight finished second last year with a team full of 20 year olds and second XI nobodies.

Today there was one strategic error by Wasim and that was one too many bowlers (could have fit an extra batsman) but the biggest errors were on the field by Imad Wasim, whose slow innings cost Northern 15 extra runs. Further, his bowling changes showed he had absolutely no idea what team he was working with - he didn’t even know what the squad was when he first came back from England.

Truth is, the Shadab-Wasim combo was fantastic and Imad’s inclusion has barely helped with the bat - only two of Imad, Amir, and Sohail Tanvir should have been playing today.

Using Imad as a scapegoat won't hide the truth that Northerns lost 3 of their last six with that squad and the KO one was a tactical blunder.

 

[shamaan]

No stars emerged? What are you on about.


I barely watched the tournament and even I know how Abdullah Shafique, Zeeshan Malik, Danish Aziz, Azam Khan and a few others announced themselves. Sure we didn't find some pacers but finding quality bats is the need of the hour.

Maybe it's the way I have written it.i said I rather have upcoming stars play than win the tournament like nothern

 

[shamaan]

Just watched the match again.

I wonder if Imad should even be playing cricket, his knees look terribly shot, compare his footwork as a batsman early on vs now, this affects his running between the wickets and his fielding. If his knee is messed up, he will naturally struggle very hard to keep himself fit as you will find it hard to do Cardio with such poor knees.

Huge blunder by Northerns to replace Shadab as captain

I have always said hes not fit enough on numerous thread and has been allowed to play even thou hes failed fitness test double standards of pakistan cricket