Markhors 231 all out (Iftikhar 60, Agha 51, Jahandad 4-49) beat Stallions 105 all out (Babar 45, Mahmood 5-18, Agha 3-21) by 126 runs
Zahid Mahmood’s five wickets helped Markhors win by a big margin of 126 runs against Stallions. Chasing 232, the lowest score needed to win in this tournament so far, Stallions were doing well at 79 for 2 but quickly fell apart, losing eight wickets for just 26 more runs. In the first innings, Iftikhar Ahmed and Salman Agha hit fifties to help Markhors pass 200, and their bowlers did the rest to keep their perfect record.
It looked like Stallions might become the first team to successfully chase a score in the tournament when Shan Masood and Babar Azam batted well during the powerplay. Babar smashed Shahnawaz Dahani for five boundaries in just one over, showing Stallions were in control at that point. They reached fifty in under nine overs. But the game changed quickly when Masood tried to cut a ball from Naseem Shah that stayed a bit low, and he ended up dragging it onto his stumps.
Naseem was fired up and gave his Test captain Masood a send-off, which Masood didn’t like, but the mood of the match had shifted. After that, Tayyab Tahir and Babar both got out before the 15th over, and the spin of Mahmood and Salman Agha slowed down Stallions’ progress. Captain Mohammad Haris got out soon after, and from there, Stallions collapsed. Their last eight wickets fell in just 53 balls, turning what seemed like an easy chase into a heavy defeat.
So far, every team batting first has won in this tournament. It wasn’t surprising that Markhors’ captain Mohammad Rizwan chose to bat first after winning the toss. However, Markhors lost wickets early as Jahandad Khan, who took 4 for 49, got rid of Fakhar Zaman for 20. Rizwan made a start but couldn’t build on it, and Markhors were struggling at 38 for 3. Three important partnerships in the middle order helped them recover, but the explosive finish seen in previous games didn’t come. Mehran Mumtaz and Jahandad tore through the lower-middle order, and the last five wickets fell for just 10 runs.
At first, Markhors’ total looked a little short, but their bowlers ensured it was more than enough to win comfortably.
