LAHORE - Northern Territory Strike beat Pakistan Shaheens by 59 runs in the opening match of the Top End T20 Series at the Gardens Oval in Darwin on Sunday afternoon. According to information made available here, Shaheens will take on ACT Comets today (Monday) at the DXC Arena as the first ball will be bowled at 1800 local time. Opting to bat first, Northern Territory Strike scored 185-5 in 20 overs. Param Uppal top-scored with unbeaten 59 off 28 balls, hitting six fours and two sixes. Opening batter Josh Kann scored 31-ball 47. For Shaheens, spinners Aaliyan Mahmood and Arafat Minhas bagged two wickets apiece. In turn, Shaheens got off to a shaky start, losing two wickets in the first two balls of their innings to right-arm fast Tom Menzies. Opening batter Shamyl Hussain was joined bycaptain Rohail Nazir and the pair stitched a 49-run partnership for the third wicket. Left-handedShamylreturned back, scoring 26 off 23 balls. Arafat (3) was soon back in the hut with Shaheens reeling at 62-4 in 8.5 overs. At that stage, M Irfan Khan joined captain Rohail and the duo knitted 29 runs for the fifth wicket – the second-best partnership of the innings for the visiting team. The dangerous looking Rohail got out in the 13th over after scoring 41 off 33 balls, hitting two sixes and a four. Irfan (20) and Ahmed Khan (19) were the other contributors with the bat before Shaheens were bundled out for 126 in 18.4 overs. For Northern Territory Strike, Jack Wood and Menzies took four wickets each.