Hyderabad Hawks won the opening game of the National Twenty20, against Quetta Bears, by seven runs at the National Stadium in Karachi. After losing the toss, Hawks lost Azeem Ghumman for a duck but recovered swiftly to score 164 for 7. Faisal Athar made 48 and Shoaib Laghari 58, while Lal Kumar's 12-ball 22 provided a timely boost. Ghulam Mohammad took 3 for 30 in three overs for Bears.
Bears got off to a flying start in their chase, with the openers adding 66 by the time Zubair Ahmed was dismissed for 25 in 6.3 overs. The other opener Bismillah Khan fell for 37 off 21 balls in the next over, and Shahzad Tareen was dismissed three balls later. From 68 for 3, Bears recovered to 119 for 3, but Kumar took three wickets to bowl Hawks to victory. Bears were restricted to 157 for 7, with Kumar finishing with 3 for 43.
Asad Shafiq's unbeaten 64 led Karachi Dolphins to a five-wicket win after Anwar Ali's three wickets had restricted Larkana Bulls to 123 for 6. Mohammad Urs struck twice early in the chase but Shafiq added 60 with Fawad Alam to put Dolphins on track. Alam and Shahid Afridi departed in successive overs and Sarfraz Ahmed was run out just after Dolphins went past 100 but Shafiq stayed till the end. He was unbeaten on 64 off 48 while Anwar came in and cracked 13 off 4.
Anwar claimed a wicket each in his first two overs after Bulls chose to bat. Mohammad Sami struck in his opening over as well before Zafar Ali steadied the innings. Urs chipped in with 26 and Ghulam Yasin made an unbeaten 44 off 35 but 123 for 6 did not pose too much of a challenge for Dolphins.
Rawalpindi Rams rode on a blistering unbeaten century from Awais Zia to crush FATA Cheetas by eight wickets. Zia needed only 55 balls to reach his maiden T20 hundred as Rams achieved the target of 142 in the 16th over. Naved Malik departed for a duck but there was no stopping his opening partner Zia, who added 98 in 10.2 overs with Zahid Mansoor, whose contribution was 23. Umar Amin came in and hit the winning runs as Zia finished with 13 fours and four sixes.
Rehan Afridi's 43 was the highest score for Cheetas after they chose to bat. Mohammad Naeem made 32 and Majid Khan contributed 26, but there was little else of note and Cheetas managed 141 for 6. Nasir Malik and Samiullah picked up two wickets each.
Khurram Manzoor scored his second Twenty20 century - 109 off 73 balls - to lead Karachi Zebras to a 14-run victory against Multan Tigers. Manzoor hit four sixes and 12 fours in his innings and scored 64% of Zebras' total of 170 for 5. The captain Khalid Latif's 22 was the next highest score. Only two of the five Zebras wickets to fall were taken by the Tigers bowlers, the other three were run-outs.
Tigers lost Zeeshan Ashraf early in the chase but were steadied by a second-wicket stand of 70 in nine overs between Zain Abbas and Shoaib Maqsood. Once that partnership was broken in the 11th over, however, wickets fell regularly and the chase lost steam. Shahzaib Ahmed took 4 for 32 as Tigers were restricted to 156 for 7.
