Kabul Zwanan beat the Kandahar Knights by two runs in the Gulbahar Afghanistan Premier League (APL) T20, powered by Fogg, invested and promoted by Snixer Sports in association with the Afghanistan Cricket Board (ACB). Kandahar Knights are still searching for their first win of the tournament and in an attempt to do so, they failed to chase down 174 despite heroics from Riki Wessels and Nasir Jamal.
 
Kandahar Knights haven’t found the momentum in this tournament so far. Although their bowlers have often presented them opportunities, the batting hasn’t quite lived up to its potential. The openers Paul Striling and Karim Sadiq were dismissed early. Brendon McCullum was bowled for 13 by Shahidullah, who’s spell of two for 18 in the early overs set it up well for the Kabul Zwanan.
 
It was left to Asghar Afghan to rally the Kandahar Knights shift and he showed some spunk with the bat. An aggressive 52 featured four fours and four sixes, all effortlessly hit to the boundary. Asghar has been in form in this tournament and has largely been Kandahar Knights’ biggest hope. During his innings, Kandahar Knights could sense hope but it withered away when Muslim Musa castled Asghar in the 12th over.
 
Wessells and Jamal were intent on scripting a miracle. Even as they kept the scoreboard ticking, Kabul Zwanan did not sense panic. However, Rashid Khan was smashed for 22 in the 18th over to bring Kandahar Knights back into the game. Jamal was dismissed in the next over by Parnell but Wessels took it to the last with 15 needed. Fareed Malik was handed the responsibility of bowling the last over and he managed to keep Wessels quiet with a few good deliveries. Although he hit a six off the last ball, Kandahar Knights fell short by three runs.
 
It was a competitive first innings with the Kandahar Knights taking wickets at regular intervals. In the early overs, Sadiq’s disciplined off-spin made a huge difference as he kept Hazratullah Zazai quiet and that set it up for Mohammad Naveed to dismiss him early. Javed Ahmadi (39) injected life into the Kabul Zwanan innings as he managed to pick boundaries at regular intervals. He threatened to run away with the game until he was dismissed in the 13th over by Sayed Shirzad.
 
It was Laurie Evans who had to take control yet again as he stabilised the Kabul Zwanan innings. He had Shahidullah for company, who’s aggressive 33 ensured Evans had the right support to go big later in the innings. Evans notched up his third fifty of the tournament, going on to take Kabul Zwanan past 170.
 
In the first ten overs, Kandahar Knights had it very much under control at 78 for three. Thereafter, the Kabul Zwanan middle-order led by Evans provided the much-needed impetus to a good total.
 
Brief scores: Kabul Zwanan 173 for 6 in 20 overs (Javed Ahmadi 39, Laurie Evans 57, Shahidullah 33; Sayed Shirzad 3 for 36, Karim Janat 2 for 45) beat Kandahar Knights  167 all out in 19 overs (Asghar Afghan 52, Nasir Jamal 38, Riki Wessels 46 not out; Shahidullah 2 for 18, Wayne Parnell 2 for 34, Muslim Musa 2 for 27) by two runs.