Pakistan Shaheens begin their white-ball leg of the Darwin Tour with an impressive four-wicket win against Northern Territory (NT) Strike at the Gardens Oval on Sunday.
Chasing the 143-run target, the Shaheens struggled initially as they had lost their opener Haseebullah for just two runs but the Green Shirts bounced back quickly.
Sahibzada Farhan (30 off 32), Usman Khan (20 off 22), Mubashir Khan (32 not out) and Mohammad Irfan Khan (21 off 28) were the top run-scorers for the winning side.
Meanwhile, skipper Mohammad Haris was removed for a duck by Matt Hammond.
The Shaheens will now face Bangladesh A in their next white-ball match on August 6.
NT Strike won the toss and opted to bat first and things did not go their way as the Shaheens’ bowling lineup bundled them out for just 142 runs with Jahandad Khan and Mubashir Khan sharing seven wickets between them.
Jagadeswara Koduru was the top-score for his side with 59 runs off 80 balls with the help of four boundaries and Matt Hammond was the second-highest run-getter with 22 runs.
The Shaheens were on top since the start with the ball as Jahandad bagged four wickets, Mubashir got three and Mohammad Imran Jr and Faisal Akram one wicket each.
Pakistan Shaheens Squad
Mohammad Haris (captain), Abdul Faseeh, Arafat Minhas, Arif Yaqoob, Faisal Akram, Haseebullah (wicketkeeper/batter), Jahandad Khan, Khurram Shahzad (only available for the 50-over matches), Muhammad Irfan Khan, Mohammad Imran Jnr, Mubasir Khan, Omair Bin Yousuf, Sahibzada Farhan, Tayyab Tahir and Usman Khan.
Schedule of Pakistan Shaheens white-ball matches:
Aug 4 – 50-over match vs Northern Territory (NT)
Aug 6 – 50 over match vs Bangladesh ‘A’
Aug 10 – vs Perth Scorchers (Top End T20 Series)
Aug 11 – vs Melbourne Stars (Top End T20 Series)
Aug 13 – vs Tasmania (Top End T20 Series)
Aug 15 – vs Melbourne Renegades (Top End T20 Series)
Aug 16 – vs Bangladesh ‘A’ (Top End T20 Series)
Aug 17 – vs ACT Comets (Top End T20 Series)
