National T20 Cup 2021: Match 5, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa vs Southern Punjab (Pakistan) - Preview, predicted XIs, pitch report, weather forecast, match prediction and live streaming details

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Southern Punjab (Pakistan) will lock horns in Match No. 5 of the National T20 Cup 2021 on Saturday, September 25. The Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium will play host to this game.

Defending champion Khyber Pakhtunkhwa made a winning start to the tournament after beating Central Punjab (Pakistan) by 36 runs last time out. Mohammad Rizwan’s 65 guided them to a formidable score of 187 for the loss of five wickets in 20 overs.

Iftikhar Ahmed’s 25-ball 40 also propelled the side to a good total. In the run-chase, Central Punjab lost wickets at regular intervals and managed only 151 for nine. Muhammad Akhlaq scored a 35-ball 62, but his efforts went in vain. Shaheen Afridi picked up three wickets for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Southern Punjab, on the other hand, lost their first game to Sindh by five wickets in the first of Friday’s doubleheader in Rawalpindi. After being inserted into bat first, Southern Punjab racked up 175 on the board courtesy of contributions from most of their batters.

Aamer Yamin top-scored for them with the help of two fours and four sixes. While defending the score, they were blown away by Khurram Manzoor’s 49-ball 84 with the help of 10 fours and three sixes. Anwar Ali’s nine-ball 29 drilled the final nails in Southern Punjab’s coffin.

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Match Details

Match: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa vs Southern Punjab (Pakistan), Match 5, National T20 Cup 2021.

Date: September 25, 2021, Saturday.

Time: 3:30 PM IST.

Venue: Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi.

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Weather Report

Conditions will be clear but with no chance of rain as of now. The temperature will be around the 30 degree Celsius mark with the humidity not on the higher side.

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Pitch Report

The pitch has been a fairly good one for batting. The team batting first needs to get around 180 to be on the safer side. Chasing should be the way forward for the team that wins the toss.

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Predicted Playing XIs

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa

Rizwan looked in excellent touch for Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and will hope to continue in the same vein. Fakhar Zaman will also be looking to get a big score under his belt. The rest of their batting is in decent enough form. Shaheen Afridi led the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa bowling attack efficiently and he got the required support from Arshad Iqbal, Imran Khan and others.

Predicted XI

Mohammad Rizwan (C and WK), Adil Amin, Fakhar Zaman, Sahibzada Farhan, Musadiq Ahmed, Iftikhar Ahmed, Arshad Iqbal, Asif Afridi, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Imran Khan, Mohammad Wasim.

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Southern Punjab (Pakistan)

A number of batters in the Southern Punjab team got starts, but they failed to get a big score. At least one batter needs to go and get a substantial score. Faisal Akram and Naseem Shah looked in some sort of rhythm for the team, but they didn’t quite get much support from the other bowlers.

Predicted XI

Zeeshan Ashraf, Zain Abbas, Sohaib Maqsood (C), Azam Khan (WK), Hassan Khan, Khushdil Shah, Aamer Yamin, Mohammad Imran, Faisal Akram, Naseem Shah, Mohammad Ilyas.

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Match Prediction

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are the defending champions and they showed just why that's the case in their first game. It won’t be a surprise if the side go on to win the next game as well.

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TV and live streaming details

TV: N/A.

Live Streaming: Cricket Pakistan’s YouTube channel