The Hindukush Strikers have put on a clinical performance to beat the Pamir Legends by 71 runs and register their first victory in the 9th edition of the Ahmad Shah Abdali First Class Tournament 2026, powered by Super Cola.
Earlier on day 1, the Pamir Legends won the toss and
opted to bowl first. The Skipper Abdul Malik (123) scored a hundred, whereas
Mahboob Khan (97), Hashmatullah Shahidi (44) and Farmanullah Safi (38) chipped
in with important runs each as the Hindukush Strikers posted 351/10 runs on the
board in the first innings. For the Legends, Samiullah Sarmast (3/82) and Zahir
Khan (3/85) bagged three wickets each; Farid Ahmad Malik (2/54) took two,
whereas Faridoon Dawoodzai (1/39) and Baheer Shah (1/61) picked up a wicket
each.
In response, the Pamir Legends only managed to score
212 runs in the second innings and fell behind by 139 runs. Rahmat Shah (58)
and Baheer Shah (52) scored half-centuries for the Legends. For the Strikers,
Zia Ur Rahman Sharifi picked three, Zaitullah Shaheen bagged two, Sayed Ahmad
Shirzad, Farmanullah Safi, Hashmatullah Shahidi and Izhar Ul Haq Naveed took
one wicket each.
In the third inning of the game, Mahboob Khan (76),
Khalid Taniwal (60), Samiullah Shinwari (26) and Farmanullah Safi (25*) stepped
up again with the bat and declared their inning at 269/7 in the second inning
to set the Pamir Legends a target of 409 runs in the game. For the Legends,
Zahir Khan bagged three wickets, whereas Samiullah Sarmast took two wickets.
While chasing a daunting target of 409 runs in the
last innings, the skipper Rahmat Shah (136) and Baheer Shah (100) scored
centuries for the Pamir Legends, which went in vain as they were unable to save
the game.
The Star of the show was the big, tall fast bowler,
Zia Ur Rahman Sharifi (6/85), who put on a tremendous bowling display to help
the Hindukush Strikers bundle out the Pamir Legends for 337 runs to register
their first victory in the 9th edition of the Ahmad Shah Abdali First Class
Tournament 2026 by 71 runs.
Zia Ur Rahman Sharifi was named Player of the Match
for his outstanding bowling and a total of 9 wickets in the game.
Both teams will now have a rest of two days and will
meet each other again in the 4th match of the event, starting on Friday,
September 4, at the Rahmat Wali Masroor Cricket Ground in Khost province.