Both teams endured collapses but Stallions’ 8 for 26 was too big a slump in the end
Zahid Mahmood’s 5 for 18 led to Stallions’ rout  •  PCB
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-for led Markhors to a crushing 126-run win over Stallions. Chasing 232 – the lowest target of the tournament by some distance – Stallions collapsed from the relative security to 79 for 2, losing their remaining eight wickets for 26. Iftikhar Ahmed and Salman Agha‘s middle order half-centuries got Markhors past the 200-mark in the first innings, with a clinical bowling performance preserving their perfect record.
The tournament looked set to get its first chasing winners when Shan Masood and Babar Azam were coasting through the opening powerplay. Babar dismantled Shahnawaz Dahani with five boundaries in his only over to underscore Stallions’ dominance at that stage, bringing up the team fifty inside nine overs. But when Masood tried to cut away a Naseem Shah delivery that kept a shade low and ended up dragging it into his stumps, the game swiftly turned.
A charged Naseem gave his Test captain a send-off that Masood did not appreciate, but the momentum had swung on a dime. Tayyab Tahir and Babar fell either side of the 15th over, and suddenly the spin of Mahmood and Salman began to stifle the Stallions’ gallop. Captain Mohammad Haris was dispatched shortly after, and Stallions were in a free fall. The last eight wickets fell in just 53 balls, as what looked like a straightforward chase an hour earlier turned into a comprehensive defeat.
With every side batting first winning so far, it was little surprise Markhors’ captain Mohammad Rizwan opted to bat first at the toss. But Markhors were beset by regular early wickets as Jahandad Khan, who took 4 for 49, removed Fakhar Zaman for 20. Rizwan got a start but never really got going, and Markhors were teetering at 38 for 3 before three successive half-century partnerships got Markhors out of that tight spot. However, the blistering finish that has characterised first innings across this competition would never materialise as Mehran Mumtaz and Jahandad ran through the lower-middle order, with the last five wickets falling for just 10 runs.
Markhors did look short at the time, but their bowlers would ensure they didn’t have much to worry about.
Danyal Rasool is ESPNcricinfo’s Pakistan correspondent. @Danny61000
