Abdullah Shafique dazzles as Central Punjab beat Southern Punjab

A superb century by Abdullah Shafique helped Central Punjab beat Southern Punjab by seven wickets in the second fixture of the National T20 Cup First XI tournament in Multan on Sunday.

The 20-year-old played an unbeaten knock of 102 from 58 deliveries as the side successfully chased the 201-run target in 18.5 overs.

He hit 11 boundaries and four sixes in the process.

Shafique was well supported by veteran wicketkeeper batsman Kamran Akmal, on the other hand, made 75 off 41 with 11 boundaries and two maximums to his name.

They put on a match-winning partnership of 145 at the third wicket.

Southern Punjab, after electing to bat first, made 200-8 in their 20 overs thanks to half-centuries by Shan Masood and Sohaib Maqsood.

Sohaibullah returned with figures of 3-26 in four overs.

Central Punjab were missing out on the services of all-rounder Fahim Ashraf who has been ruled out of the competition.

Earlier in the day, defending champions Northern got their campaign off to a winning start as they beat Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) by a comfortable 79-run margin at the same venue.

Central Punjab XI: Saad Nasim (captain), Kamran Akmal, Rizwan Hussain, Abddullah Shafiq, Abid Ali, Qasim Akram, Irfan Khan, Usman Qadir, Bilal Asif, Naseem Shah and Sohaibullah.

Southern Punjab XI: Shan Masood (captain), Hussain Talat, Zeeshan Ashraf, Sohaib Maqsood, Khushdil Shah, Saif Badar, Aamir Yamin, Umer Khan, Zahid Mehmood, Mohammad Irfan and Mohammad Ilyas.