Rashid sets up Zwanan's final date with the Legends

Rashid Khan eventually finished with four for 20, but his first spell of two overs virtually broke the back of the Panthers batting.

It should make for a cracking contest when Kabul Zwanan square off against the Balkh Legends in the first-ever final of the Gulbahar Afghanistan Premier League (APL).
Young leg-spinner Rashid Khan set up the date with the Legends after a spectacular all-round effort against the Paktia Panthers at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium late on Saturday night.
The 20-year-old, who had smoked 35 off 19 balls earlier, foxed them with two wickets for no run to script a 90-run victory in the second semifinal.
Rashid Khan eventually finished with four for 20, but his first spell of two overs virtually broke the back of the Panthers batting.
Pakistan all-rounder Shahid Afridi, who survived the hat-trick ball against Rashid Khan, made a defiant 16-ball 27 with two boundaries and equal number of sixes but it was a lost cause by then as they folded up for 102 in 14.5 overs.
The other night, Zwanan had lost the dead rubber against the Panthers by six wickets with stand-in captain Colin Ingram's unbeaten 83 going in vain after Panthers skipper Mohammad Shahzad had scored 62.
But Zwanan pulled off a win when it mattered most.
Earlier, Zwanan put aside a stop-start innings to make a fist of it to post a competitive total of 192 for the loss of nine wickets.
After left-hander Colin Ingram had kept them in the fight by repelling the opposition with a stoic 44 from 27 deliveries with five boundaries and two sixes, Laurie Evans and then captain Rashid Khan took the fight back to the Panthers.
Englishman Evans had made 31 from 21 deliveries with two sixes and a boundary after which Rashid Khan clubbed an unbeaten 19-ball 35 studded with three maximums and two boundaries. All three sixes came in the last over bowled by Sri Lankan paced Isuru Udana.
Rashid Khan's contribution, coming on the back of his unbeaten eight-ball 27 against the Kandahar Knights the other night, was vital in the scheme of things as it helped swell Zwanan's score, which had looked unlikely, a little earlier.
Leg spinner Shahid Afridi was the pick of the bowlers for the Panthers, taking two for 25, while young paceman Zia-ur-Rahman too returned with two wickets. Udana went for runs, especially towards the fag end, but the wily pacer also managed to claim two to sit top of the wicket-takers list with 17 wickets.
Much earlier, openers Luke Ronchi and Zazai had got them off to a flier before the Kiwi holed out to Calum MacLeod off Udana.
Wayne Parnell and then Zazai followed suit with the latter scoring 24 from 16 balls with two boundaries and a six.
Javed Ahmadi was run out by Afridi from a throw from Cameron Delport after which Ingram and Shahidullah returned home.
But Evans and Rashid Khan put on 31 runs for the seventh wicket to lay the ground work for a late assault.
Brief scores:
Kabul Zwanan: 192 for 9 in 20 overs (Colin Ingram 44, Rashid Khan 35 not out, Laurie Evans 31, Hazratullah Zazai 24, Shahid Afridi -25, Zia-ur-Rahman 2-36, Isuru Udana 2-57) beat Paktia Panthers: 102 all out in 14.5 overs (Shahid Afridi 27, Rashid Khan 4-20, Muslim Musa 2-17) by 90 runs.
Man of the Match: Rashid Khan (Kabul Zwanan).
james@khaleejtimes.com