- Balochistan (BAL) will be locking horns with Northern (Pakistan) (NOR) in the 1st match of the National T20 Cup today. The match will be played in Pakistan’s Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium at 3:30 PM. The tournament registers for the 18th season and a total of six teams will be taking part. The tournament will be broadcasted live on PTV Sports and a live scorecard of the entire tournament will be provided on ESPNcricinfo.
NOR has a good record of finishing the game at the top in the score table in the league stage at last year’s National T20 2020. The Shadab Khan and team won eight matches out of 10. Meanwhile, in the semi-final, they lost to Southern Punjab by seven wickets. This year, the team will be lead by Shadab Khan while Mohammad Nawaz will be his deputy.
However, BAL did not perform well in the last season of National T20. They finished their tournament at the last position on the score table with four wins out of 10 matches. Last year, Imam Ul Haq was the leading run-scorer with 375 runs in nine matches. Haq will be leading Balochistan this year.
Ahead of the match between Balochistan and Northern, here’s all you need to know:
Balochistan vs Northern (Pakistan), Match 1
Venue: Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium, Rawalpindi
Match Date & Time: September 23 at 3:30 PM IST and 3:00 PM Local Time
Live Streaming: PTV Sports, PCB Youtube Channel
Pitch Report:
Rawalpindi Cricket Stadium is batting-friendly and a good score can be expected. However, it will be hard for bowlers especially in the death overs and powerplay. The pacers can get benefits in the latter half of the match, while spinners can show their talent in the mid-overs. A score above 180 may come in handy.
Probable Playing XIs for BAL v/s NOR:
Balochistan:
Imam-ul-Haq (c), Bismillah Khan (wk), Khurram Shahzad, Haris Sohail, Yasir Shah, Akif Javed, Ayaz Tasawwar, Mohammad Ibrahim, Junaid Khan, Amad Butt, Akbar-ur-Rehman .
Northern (Pakistan):
Ali Imran, Haris Rauf, Zeeshan Malik, Sohail Tanvir, Rohail Nazir (wk), Haider Ali, Asif Ali, Shadab Khan (c), Muhammad Musa, Mohammad Nawaz, Imad Wasim .
Top Picks for BAL v/s NOR Dream11 Match:
Top Picks – Balochistan
Imam Ul Haq: An opening batsman who has the capability of leading the team into a win. In the last season, he mastered the innings with 375 runs in nine matches. He had an average of 53.57.
Haris Sohail: A left-handed batsman from the team of Balochistan. He has been the second leading run-scorer in the last season. He scored 288 runs in 10 matches, which comprised two half-centuries. He completed at an average of 28.8.
Top Picks – Northern (Pakistan)
Haris Rauf: He stole last year’s tournament as the second leading wicket-taker with 18 wickets in eight matches with the best figure of four in 23. He qualifies as a good bouncer who will be a useful player in the middle and death overs.
Haider Ali: A decent young cricket who comes can turn into an important player in the Dream 11. A good score bearer in T20s. In the last season, he scored 294 runs in eight matches with an average of 36.75. He registered the highest score of 90.
