Paktia Panthers managed to beat Nangarhar Leopards by 21 in the 3rd day of Afghanistan Premier League of Cricket (APLC) on Sunday night in Sharjah cricket stadium.
 
Despite a late charge by Ben Cutting 71 and Hashmatullah Shahidi 49* Paktia Panthers managed to win by 21 runs.
 
Led by Mohammad Shahzad’s fifty, Panthers scored 184-8 and defended with a strong bowling performance upfront. Although Ben Cutting gave the Leopards a glimmer of hope, it was too little, too late.
 
Leopards were rocked early in the run-chase by the left-armer Isuru Udana. The dangerous Johnson Charles was bowled in the first over and Anton Devcich was later departed. It was a struggle from thereon with the Panthers spinners building the pressure with tight overs.
 
Panthers set tight fields and bowled a disciplined line to maintain the pressure. Najeeb Tarakai (12), Rahmat Shah (7) and Shafiqullah (10) weren’t given the opportunity to flourish and fell within the first ten overs – by which time the Leopards had only gotten past 50 and lost half their side.
 
In the meantime, Balkh Legends has beat Kandahar Knights by 13 runs and leaves Kanahar winless.
 
With Monday’s rest day, only the Balkh Legends have a clean record of two wins from two to stay at the top of the standings with four points. 
 
Each of the five teams is scheduled to play each other twice before the top four qualify for the semi-finals on October 19 and 20.