Central Punjab's Faizan, Tayyab Star In KP's First Loss Of The Season.

LAHORE -- Khyber Pakhtunkhwa faced their first loss of the Kingdom Valley National T20 Cup 2022-23 as Central Punjab successfully defended 194-run target at the Multan Cricket Stadium on Sunday.

This was Khyber Pakhtunkhwa's first defeat after five consecutive wins. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the winners of the 2020 and 2021 editions, are defending their throne. Southern Punjab began the Multan leg of the tournament with a win. They defeated Balochistan by 20 runs (DLS method) as a dust storm at the completion of the sixth over of the run chase ended the match.

It was a brilliant second wicket 98-run partnership between opener Mohammad Faizan and one-drop Tayyab Tahir that set the platform for Central Punjab's towering 193 all out - the last wicket falling on the last ball - and an eventual 25-run victory. This was Central Punjab's only second win of the tournament.

Central Punjab were dealt a blow early when Faizan and Tayyab put a strong counterattack, pushing KP's bowlers on the backfoot. Faizan scored 72 off 36 including 7 sixes and 4 fours while Tayyab smashed 75 in 48 before he was run out. KP bowlers Maaz Khan and M Imran came into play in the second part of the innings and shared seven wickets between them. Maaz returned 4-46 and Imran 3-30.

KP's run chase derailed after a promising start with the dismissal of M Haris (14 off 15). Sahibzada Farhan top-scored with 47 and was removed in the 11th over with the...