Afganistan Premier League is off to a flying start with a high scoring inaugural match between Paktia Panthers and Kabul Zwanan. The game lived up to the T20 games expectations as Paktia scored a mammoth 218/4 in their 20 overs. Laure Evans unbeaten 79 off 39 balls helped Kabul beat Paktia by three wickets.
Kabul opted to bowl after winning the toss in the first game. Paktia openers were off to a solid start with 101 runs for the first wicket. Mohammad Shahzad scored a quickfire 67 off 39 balls which included five sixes. Sikandar Raza then took over the attack once openers departed with a brilliant 78 off 40 balls. He hit seven sixes and five boundaries in his innings which helped Paktia post a big total on the board. Former Pakistan player Shahid Afridi scored only one run before getting bowled by Parnell. The bowlers were taken to all parts of the ground except for Rashid Khan who bowled a brilliant spell of 4-0-27-0.
Kabul lost their opener Ronchi with just 20 runs on the board. Hazratullah Zazai and Javed Ahmadi added another 35 runs. Evans joined Ahmadi at the fall of the second wicket and played brilliant innings of 79 in just 39 balls. Middle order chipped in with small contributions though they lost wickets at regular intervals. Evans kept on playing his shots on the other end. Evans scored the winning runs with a boundary in the first ball of the 20th over to take Kabul over the finishing line. Fawad Ahmed remained unbeaten on 14 along with Evans.
Kandahar Knights will take on Nangarhar Leopards in the second game at Sharjah International Stadium.
