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The Kandahar Knights' fate is not in their hands after they went down to Kabul Zwanan in a crucial Gulbahar Afghanistan Premier League (APL) fixture at the Sharjah Cricket Stadium on Tuesday night.
Englishman Laurie Evans scored an unbeaten 32 and his captain Rashid Khan fired an unbeaten eight-ball 27 with three sixes and two boundaries as Zwanan won by four wickets.
Their blitz pushed the late bloomers Knights to their fifth defeat and their hopes of a play-off spot depends on the result between table toppers Balkh Legends and the Nangarhar Leopards on Wednesday.
The Knights are battling for the last play-off berth with the Leopards.
Ealier, after Hazratullah Zazai's unbelievable pyrotechnics against the Balkh Legends the other night, his opening partner Luke Ronchi showed intent by putting the skates on to a nine-ball 28, in pursuit of 153.
Ronchi, who has starred in Sharjah in the PSL and T10 Leagues, smacked off-spinner Karim Sadiq for 20 runs in the second over, which included two sixes and an equal number of boundaries.
But he couldn't carry on, spooning a catch to substitute Waheedullah Shafaq at extra cover off left-arm pacer Sayed Shirzad for 31. Shirzad, then had Zazai castled for 16, the left-hander's second low score of the League.
Much earlier, Rashid Khan again won the toss and opted to bowl first. With each game being a virtual knockout for the Kandahar Knights, their skipper Asghar Afghan promoted himself as opener and gave them the impetus early on.
Although Irish opener Paul Stirling poor run continued with the bat, Afghan and former New Zealand captain Brendon McCullum steadied things for the Knights.
Afghan had raced to 22-ball 50 but McCullum was a bit subdued with seven from 15 deliveries, with no boundary or six.
And although the Kiwi did open up with a boundary through covers off left-arm pacer Fareed Ahmad, McCullum's scratchy stay ended after he went a tad too early to a slower one from left-arm spinner only to slip it down Colin Ingram's throat at long on.
Just earlier, Afghan fell victim to a short ball from Fareed Ahmad, which got big on him and he holed out to Hazratullah Zazai.
But once Afghan left, there was a bit of a lull before they eventually reached 152 for five their 20 overs.
Nasir Jamal made a run-a-ball 28, while Najibullah Zadran scored 25 from 26 balls. Afghan perhaps missed a trick on this occasion by not pushing Riki Wessels up the order for some quickfire runs to swell their total, especially considering that the naturalised Englishman had made an unbeaten 46 against Zwanan last week.
Wessels came in at No.7 and the hard-hitting batsman faced only two balls.
Brief scores:
Kandahar Knights: 152 for 5 in 20 overs (Asghar Afghan 60, Nasir Jamal 28, Najibullah Zadran 25, Fareed Ahmad 2-40) lost to Kabul Zwanan: 153 for 6 in 19.1 overs (Laurie Evans 32 not out, Rashid Khan 27 not out, Luke Ronchi 31, Sayed Shirzad 2-36, Karim Janat 3-14) by 4 wickets.
james@khaleejtimes.com
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