Abbottabad thrashed Karachi Whites by nine wickets to win their maiden National T20 Cup title. The Shadab Khan-captained side made light work of a meagre 119-run target, chasing it down with 37 balls to spare at Lahore’s Gaddafi Stadium. With this win, Abbottabad also avenged their defeat to Karachi Whites in the final of the 2023-24 edition of the tournament, when they lost by nine runs.

Fast bowler Arshad Iqbal took 3 for 28 in four overs for Abbottabad before former Pakistan Under-19 opener Shahzaib Khan smashed the only half-century of the match, scoring an unbeaten 54 off 41 balls. Kamran Ghulam blasted his way to 45 not out off 26 balls with three fours, the last of them sealing the win, and three sixes.

The nature of pitches had dominated the discourse throughout the recent three-match ODI series between Pakistan and Australia, the last two of which were played at this venue. But, unlike the surfaces across those games, this pitch, unused since the first half of the PSL 2026, was conducive for strokeplay. The green tinge on it provided decent pace and bounce allowed the batters value for runs, as demonstrated by Shahzaib and Ghulam.

Shadab had inserted Karachi Whites after winning that toss and that they folded for only 118 in 18.3 overs because of their reckless batting. The opening pair of captain Saud Shakeel and Abdullah Fazal seemed circumspect despite getting nine runs in the first over bowled by Iqbal. Fazal was the first Karachi Whites wicket to fall when left-hander was castled by Iqbal as he looked to accelerate, moving a bit too much down the leg side in the third over.

Young left-hander Haroon Arshad showed promise with his elegant shots, but was soon caught at deep third off Mohammad Wasim Jnr. Shakeel was caught at cover driving left-arm quick Shahab Khan on the up in the fifth over as Karachi Whites were three wickets down for only 38 inside the powerplay. The wicket of Saifullah Bangash, who chopped on Razaullah in the seventh, left them reeling at 49 for 4 in the seventh.

Pakistan Test captain Shan Masood and Khawaja Najay looked to arrest the collapse after the former survived a caught behind chance early in the innings. They added 27 off 21 balls for the fifth wicket before Masood nicked Iqbal’s back-of-a-length delivery the wicketkeeper. Iqbal’s third wicket came four balls later when he sent back Nafay.

Fast bowler Saqib Khan top-scored for Karachi Whites with a run-a-ball 22 and he struck the first six of the match in the 15th over that took his team’s score into three figures. He seemed to be dragging his side to a somewhat respectable total but was dismissed by Shadab, who took an excellent catch running backwards off his own bowling to end the innings.

With not much to be surmounted, Abbottabad were steady at the start of the chase. Shahzaib launched the attack from the fifth over when he struck Mohammad Umar for a four and six. He then smashed Saqib Khan for a boundary and a six off consecutive balls in the next over as his side finished the powerplay with a strong 50 without loss.

Shahzaib’s onslaught continued as he launched Abrar Ahmed for a boundary and a gigantic six towards midwicket before the wicket of his opening partner Afaq Khan slowed him down.

Shahzaib and Ghulam milked singles around the dial, before the latter took Saqib for consecutive sixes. His perfectly timed drive over mid-off sealed the chase in 13.5 overs.

This match was originally scheduled to be played on March 18 at Peshawar’s Imran Khan Cricket Stadium but had to be rescheduled because of rain and clogged outfield.