KARACHI : Captain Shahid Afridi led from the front with a commanding
all round performance to inspire Karachi Dolphins to an easy
eight-wicket victory over Islamabad Leopards in a day-night match in the
Faysal Bank National Twenty20 Cup here at the National Stadium on
Thursday.Chasing 132, Karachi Dolphins completed the victory in
13.3 overs for the loss of only two wickets in their first match in the
tournament.Shahid Afridi, opening the innings with Sahhzaib
Hasan (21), hammered 58 off 32 balls with six brilliant fours and two
towering sixes.Karachi Dolphins were 26 runs away from victory
when Afridi departed after adding 70 runs along with Rameez Raja (2) for
the second wicket partnership.Then Raja and Asad Shafiq took 17 balls to reach the target and both remained not out on 36 and 10, respectively.Earlier,
Shahid Afridi and his bowlers through their accurate bowling restricted
Islamabad Leopards to 131-9 in the allotted 20 overs.Main scorers were Afaq Rahim (22), Moed Ahmed (21) and Nauman Masood (20).Winning
the toss, Islamabad leopards captain Rao Iftikhar Anjum decided to bat
first but his batsmen could not resist against Karachi Dolphins attack,
particularly leg-breaks and googlies by skipper Shahid Afridi, who
captured three wickets for 20 runs.
