Afridi inspires Dolphins to easy win over Leopards

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.