FAISALABAD: Panth­e­rs became the winners of the ina­u­gural Champions One-Day Cup as they beat Markhors by five wickets in the final here at the Iqbal Stadium on Sunday. Panthers bundled out the Markhors, after they opted to bat first, for a mere 122-run total in 33.4 overs and then took just 18 overs to chase it down with five wickets in the bag as skipper Shadab Khan hit the winning six. Abdul Wahid Bangalzai top scored for Panthers with 41 off 43 balls hitting five fours and two sixes. Earlier, three wicket hauls by Arafat Minhas (3-1) and Mohammad Hasnain (3-38), who also finished with a tournament tally of 17 wickets, backed up by player of the match performance by Sajid Khan (2-24) dented the Mark­hors progress with the bat as they collapsed from 82-2 in 18.2 overs to 122 all out in 33.4 overs. Shadab and Ali Raza also picked up one wicket each. After Markhors copped two early blows with the scorecard reading 26-2 in 5.3 overs, Haseebullah (27 off 48, three fours) stitched a 56-run third-wicket partnership with Fakhar Zaman who top scored for the Markhors with 46 off 49 balls clubbing five fours and one six. Off-spinner Sajid got rid of both the set batters in 19th and 21st overs to spark a batting collapse as Markhors lost their last eight wickets in 15.2 overs. Apart from Haseebullah and Fakhar, only Bismillah Khan (16 off 37, two fours) reached double figures for Markhors. In turn, Panthers’ opening batters raced to 51 in 7.4 overs before Umar Siddiq departed for 19 with the help of three fours. Sajid (15 off 13, two fours and a six), promoted to bat at number three, was the second batter to be dismissed as Markhors struck regular blows to reduce the Panthers from 51-1 to 94-5 in 15 overs. Usman Khan, who finished as the top run-scorer of the tournament with 272 runs in six games, only contributed 13 off eight balls hitting a four and a six. Rizwan Mehmood (16 not out off 12, three fours) and Shadab (14 off 9, a four and a six) stitched a 29-run stand for the sixth wicket to take their team home safely. For Markhors, Moham­mad Imran Jr and Akif Javed picked up two wickets each while Shahnawaz Dahani dismissed one batter. MARKHORS 122 in 33.4 overs (Fakhar Zaman 46, Haseebullah 27; Arafat Minhas 3-1, Mohammad Hasnain 3-38, Sajid Khan 2-24, Ali Raza 1-19, Shadab Khan 1-20); PANTHERS 123-5 in 18 overs (Abdul Wahid Bangalzai 41, Umar Siddiq 19, Rizwan Mehmood 16 not out, Sajid Khan 15, Shadab Khan 14 not out; Mohammad Imran Jr 2-11, Akif Javed 2-42).